WOMAN'S 
MANUAL 



Kxacora See^. I ^o(d 



IAISD&LEE 




Book -JX-^'^^ 

Copyright N? 



COPMRIGHT DEPOSIT, 



The 

Woman's Manual 

of 

1000 HINTS 
For the Home 



By 

AURORA REED 



Laird & Lee, Inc. 

1916 






Copyright, 191G, by 
LAIED & LEE, Inc. 




OCT 30 IGI3 



)GI.A4461()9 



PREFACE 

Few adults lack interest in homelore, even 
among those who appear homeless. We hear 
shopgirls telling how to cook on an electric iron, 
travelers discuss chalk as a stain remover, and the 
world famous actress speeds to the pigs and 
chickens, when her season ends. Shifts and ex- 
pedients for the home are eagerly read in the 
Sunday papers, and no two women chat without 
exchanging ideas on the multiform worries of the 
household. But, has anyone sorted and pub- 
lished this homefy wisdom of the needle and the 
dish pan; these thousands of ideas on sanitation, 
on beauty, on comfort, on thrift, on harmony and 
stepsaving? Most homes not being competitive, 
lack efficiency, most cook books call for lavish 
butter and eggs, and domestic science schools, not 
having leaky utensils to repair, nor little children 
to be dressed in madeovers, cannot bridge the gap. 
Among our millions of homes few are able to 
turn all problems over to hired specialists. The 
worried fourteen-hour housewife has no time for 
elaborate scientific courses. 

After a quarter of a century of "trying out" 
printed suggestions, of combining and changing 

3 



4 PREFACE 

recipes, and ideas, of getting to a goal by ever 
cheaper and easier paths, we here place the best 
findings before the reader. Some are old, some 
have never been printed before, and some are odd 
adaptations. It is believed that in a simple home 
without hired specialists, this little book will save 
its cost a hundred times over. 

Aurora Reed. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

The Easy-Way Home 7 

Household Hints 19 

The Kitchen 73 

Practical Cooking Recipes 93 

Garden and Yard 121 

Baby 139 

Boys and Girls 1 i9 

The "Why" of Sex 169 

Fasting for Rheumatism 179 

Miscellaneous 187 

Medicine From the Garden 

Foods That Build Up and Warm 

Care of the Body 

Overlapping Tasks 

Past Thirty-Five 

Pets 

In the Wild 

Buying Stores 

Meeting Reverses 

The Might of Non-Resistance 

Sewing 

The Fireless Cooker 



THE EASY-WAY HOME 



IDEAS 

What is an expedient worth? If it saves brown 
bread from falhng and being inedible in a thou- 
sand homes six times yearly, what is its money 
value ? Most leaks occur in the kitchen, shifts in 
housework are interesting to some five or ten mil- 
lion women on this continent alone. Different 
wordings of an idea, make it attractive to dif- 
ferent minds. The cook-books on the miarket 
strangely mislead us. Why put grease into 
doughnuts to bring out a crop of pimples ? This 
food is better with fat on the surface only. Does 
a cook-book deal properly with the rank and 
gluey, but cheap and strengthening, whole 
wheat? The writer has made unflaked piecrust, 
jell like molasses, and coarse-grained bread for 
many years, because of earnest study of several 
cook-books. 

Let us gather ideas from our scrapbooks, from 
magazines, from free bulletins, from itinerant 
help, and best of all from the shining plate of the 
supermind. A thinker who clinches a problem 
with cheery confidence draws unaccountable in- 
spiration — ideas come sudden, as an arrow from 
the unseen; only clinch, try out the best you 
know, read, expect, and wait — they always come. 
The more a brain draws, the brighter the eyes — a 
dull, heavy eye goes with a plodding, uninspired 
mind. 

t 



THE EASY- WAY COTTAGE 

Mrs. Hardway began her housekeeping in six 
rooms of the usual kind. Every sweeping day 
she inspected and dug out eight corners for each 
room ; about twenty for stairway and each closet ; 
and crawled choking and panting under the stairs 
to give attention to remote places. Most of the 
shelves were too high for easy cleaning — and the 
rugs too heavy. Every window in the house 
swelled and stuck in wxt weather, so that its 
cleaning was back-breaking. JNIany sideboards, 
lounges and beds were shoved aside — sometimes 
a caster was missing, too. A trail of mud fol- 
lowed the inbringing of fuel; and the "handsome" 
heater was a nightmare of raised letters, knobs 
and ornaments. 

The cooking range was another center of 
worry — it smudged the hands, leaked dust, and 
smoked in heavy weather. For this tyrant, kin- 
dling w^as dried, ashes sifted, and coal carried — 
blacking mixed, too. It required endless poking, 
coaxing, wiping, scraping; which alone brought 
her nearly to wrinkles and gray hairs. The 
kitchen was twelve by sixteen, with much floor, 
wall and ceiling surface to clean. Here dogs and 





10 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

children passed between the table and stove ; cats 
squalled under feet; a pair of open doors con- 
flicted; and men shook off their wet wraps and 
sat with their long legs in the way. The worker 
trotted miles daily between the mixing, cooking, 
serving and washing. The pipes, being near an 
outside wall, sometimes froze and burst. 

Mrs. Hardway lifted heavy gowns and spreads 
in the tub, dragged the wash forty feet through 
mud and snow to hang, ate from an ironed linen 
cloth, and starched ginghams for herself and two 
children. When the third child was expected, she 
looked peevish, thin, and almost as old as her 
mother. 

Then the four Hardwaj^s moved into a modern 
house with electric wiring, gas stove and base- 
ment kitchen; and alas — high stairways and few 
closets. Constance now gave her slender 
strength to climbing stairs, to answer bellrings, 
or to hang wash in the attic. All the windows 
were double hung, and a little too high to be 
reached in cleaning ; and the heavy rugs were still 
with them. Constance wondered wearily why 
ceilings were not seven instead of ten feet high, 
why doors swing into the dark, cramped pantries, 
and why shelves and lighting fixtures are all ar- 
ranged by and for towering giants. After a few 
weeks in this modern "convenient" ( ?) home, her 



THE EASY- WAY HOME 11 

physician spoke of breakdown, and the children 
with their father went to Granny's; while Con- 
stance found herself recuperating in an upstate 
village with a cousin. 

This cousin, Mrs. Easyway, was about fifty. 
Cheer and efficiency marked every line of her 
smooth face. She had dwelt in ten houses, and 
now occupied one built to her plans — and this 
house was an ever unfolding wonder and joy to 
Constance. "I clean my whole sleeping floor in 
a short time," she explained to the guest. "I wipe 
out my shallow white lined closets w^ith a feather 
duster, and clip them shut. I brush walls, mat- 
tresses and the floor. JNIy windows hinge on the 
side, and with boiling water and linen, they soon 
shine. All corners are filled with a mixture like 
cement — there are no rugs, only a strip of carpet 
nailed down — and shoes are supported on racks. 

''With much paint and few cracks, we have no 
vermin. There is no factory furniture to shove 
aside — all mv beds are wall bunks, wide and com- 
fortable, with w^indows over them; all m}^ tables 
and wardrobes are built in; and all my closets 
have two narrow doors in place of one wide one. 
There are two rods over the foot of each bed for 
airing blankets. There is not a shelf in the house 
over five feet from the floor, and few wide ones. 

''It's surprising how big a seven by ten sleep- 



12 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

ing room looks with narrow wall furniture, light 
everywhere, light paint, and a row of casements 
across one end. Your rooms seem bigger than 
they are, and airy too, with the transoms and 
cross currents. 

"You don't know the depths of my base schem- 
ing," laughed the hostess, "that little reception 
room is four things in one — with a wide top closet 
open, its a playroom for my grandchildren ; with 
another closet open, it's a sewing room with ma- 
chine, mirror, and that big library table ; and with 
books only exposed, it's a reading room." 

"How ideal, — ^warm and clean, one room in- 
stead of three or four." Here Constance in- 
dulged in trenchant and bitter comments on cer- 
tain houses she had occupied before and after 
marriage — upon certain knobby stoves, conflict- 
ing doors and poorly lighted tables. 

"I sent two hundred miles to get a big plain 
airtight heater — it's easy to clean outside and in, 
and receives huge knots, thus saving sawing and 
chopping. Before building here I worked with 
a lead pencil for weeks, planning every detail. 
Did you ever notice that a door may swing four 
ways? And a great nuisance it is, if it swings 
wrong. 

"I carefully arranged for a good light on the 
sewing, eating, cooking, mixing, serving and the 



THE EASY-WAY HOME 18 

oven too. 'Let there be light' was God's first 
mandate, and it should be the house builder's. 
Draperies, paint and plumbing may be added as 
one gets the money; but the windows, doors and 
cross currents of air should be right from the 
start. Also have all rooms but one, small ; and all 
ceilings low." 

After viewing the kitchen with wonder for sev- 
eral days, Constance said, "Your dear blue and 
white kitchen with a sink in the middle ; and your 
intense blue flame on the bottom of pots, and 
hood over to draw smoke and smells; and your 
eating table at a sunny east window — how clean, 
airy, and convenient. Without seeing all this, 
I could never believe that washing, cooking, and 
eating could be done with so much ease and dain- 
tiness. It's partly the color, partly compact ar- 
rangements, and partly pulling down a curtain 
over the midroom sink at mealtime. I shall dis- 
like my drudgery, grease and smoke, more than 
ever, after seeing your cottage." 

"My dear, you must have an easy way cottage, 
even if you have to wait a bit for finish, curtains, 
mirrors and paint. This house cost me nearly 
forty years of experience. I now save a maid's 
wages, and keep; I save big coal bills and many 
expenses — not to mention the endless soul-dead- 
ening toiling. 



14 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

"My cooking is easier, too. That blue flame is 
quick, and independent of the weather. We eat 
simply at meals, but have something different 
each time — and the best. I no longer wipe pots 
and pans — I rinse, shake, and lay them inverted 
on a warm rack. Sometimes I even have none; 
I can take a china bowl from the steam cooker, 
wipe it and lay it on the table. 

"Do you cook in triple doses, Constance?" 

"Gracious, no. What are they?" 

"Carrots for three meals are scarcely harder to 
dig, peel and cook, th.an for one; they need little 
more heat or pot washing. We have them boiled 
the first day, hash or scuffle the second, and I re- 
heat the rest later for soup or chowder. So ^vith 
many foods. When I make fudge, stock or 
brown bread, I hide away a portion, for a sur- 
prise later. My heavy cooking comes twice a 
week — and I enjoy it. No worker finds such en- 
ticing fields to be explored, as a cook." 

Your kitchen would entice a stone image." 

The visitor rapidly gained health and good 
spirits, and her eyes shone with the light of a 
zealot. Pencil in hand she made drawings and 
notes. 

Months later the older woman visited Con- 
stance and found a wee red face in the cradle. 

"Baby is a girl, my dear first daughter. I am 



THE EASY-WAY HOME 15 

to have an Easy- Way cottage — it's building now. 
I shall teach her Easy- Way housekeeping — it's 
more useful than a college course, and a better 
legacy than money." 



FOR AN EASY- WAY HOME 

Have all shelves low. 
Have one large room only. 
Have much built-in furniture. 
Have few cracks, and much paint. 
Have fuel box open to the yard. 
Have closet floors a little higher. 
Have metal bins to exclude pests. 
Have low ceilings, and few stair steps. 
Have simple wood and oil, or electric heater. 
Have a midroom-kitchen sink of porcelain. 
Have transoms and cross currents. 
Have sunsliine on the breakfast table. 
Have windows hinged and swinging in. 
Have doors swing where least in the way. 
Have several purposes for a room. 
Have airing rods over foot of beds. 
Have no pipes near cold outer walls. 
Have thin, easy to turn mattresses. 
Have cupboard doors narrow^ and many. 
Have few pictures or ornaments exposed. 
Lift no rugs — tack dow^n a narrow strip. 
Have many shallow, glossy, white-lined 
closets. 

Have rounded corners to shelves and floors. 

16 



THE EASY-WAY HOME 17 

Have a few windows unscreened for the view. 

Screen the doors, ventilators and some of the 
windows. 

A bath is more needed than meat or tobacco. 

Have steel rods in warm place for the inverted 
pots. 

Have wires in shed for wet day wash. 

Have a clean blue flame, and a hood over cook- 
ing. 

Have light on sewing, cooking, washing and 
eating. 

Have few steps between mixing, heating, serv- 
ing, washing, etc. 



HOUSEHOLD HINTS 



RESPITE FOR WOMEN 

The strongest women need respite from heavy 
work, two or three days a month, else health suf- 
fers. A girl v/as weakened for life, when her 
married sister allowed her to carry a spoiled baby 
on one side, and a pail of water on the other, at 
a critical time. Even a plant cannot endure 
strains and checks during the blooming season. 
In woman there is a sensitiveness both of mind 
and body — even dreams seem real — sympathies 
are keener, and bad news depresses unreasonably. 

Save light tasks for this time; avoid cleaning 
ceilings, and heavy blankets, lifting, dancing and 
surf-bathing — also pumping a lumbering old 
sewing machine. Retire early, and draw loose 
socks over the feet. Headaches, boils, aching of 
corns or teeth, rheumatism, falling hair and back- 
ache, etc., as this time approaches, usually get 
worse. Sometimes a steambath, by quieting 
nerves and relieving congestion, eases matters a 
bit. If not go to bed early, use patience rather 
than drugs, and wait for Nature's relief. Eating 
raw parsley is said to help girls at this time. If 
hands or feet get accidentally into ice water, put 
into warm mustard water to restore warmth. 

21 



DEAD CAPITAL 

Spring housecleaning is a farce, when the 
closets and trunks remain full of germy, freuz}^ 
old clothes. No form of dead capital collects so 
readily in palace or hovel — often fifty dollars 
hangs ignored on the walls; where there is great 
need. The tough, wiry, weaves of men's clothes 
are, secondhand, stronger than new flannel; but- 
tons, stiffening and hooks are purchased, when 
they could be recovered from the "bonevard"; 
and there is a lack of "smear" rags in the kitchen. 
Do not defer remodeling as material cuts to more 
advantage for wee tots. Also garments made big 
and folded away, are saved in time of pestilence, 
flood or fire, when unsatisfactory articles are 
abandoned. 

In the quiet days of January, start this profit- 
able work; it pays more than spring hatching, 
summer gardening, or fall pickling. Open seams, 
brush and roll stiffening — confine each roll with 
a safety pin. Tear thin cotton into cleaning 
rags; roll together linen for doubling wipers; 
keep hose in a box, and wool knit goods in an- 
other. Starch rots curtains — wash before put- 
ting away. Stuff fluffy interlining into a com- 

22 



HOUSEHOLD HINTS 23 

forter, into a sugar sack. Have a gasoline day 
for restoring fine fabrics. Confine buttons on 
linen strings in sets; they are more likely to be 
used if their number is evident at a glance. Make 
black quilts, rugs and mattresses last, since many 
scraps are fit for nothing else. 

Nothing is more convenient for pieces than a 
trunk, with canvas pockets on inner lid and walls. 



BUSY AND YOUNG AT FORTY 

A woman with four children and no hired help 
looked fresh and young at forty. She explains 
it in part thus: 

I do mussy sewing and cutting of garments, 
when the house is quiet — buttonholes and knit- 
ting in the noisy evening. 

Each child when bathing washes his hose and 
his thin union suit, and dries them overnight. 
Thus they are laundered less often. 

Visitors are usually received several at a time 
on Sunday — for they help to entertain each 
other, and the house is in order and the children 
freshly tubbed on that day. 

I do not stand when I can sit, or sit upright 
when I can recline — there's a backless stool un- 
der my kitchen table. I retire early when tired, 
and chat with one or two children in the soothing 
darkness — a good way to keep up with the ever 
unfolding mind of youth. 

Youth's specialty is leg action rather than 
brain action. My children learn to do exacting 
work at times; but commonly they fetch and 
carry, collect lamps, vases and feedpans, they 
sweep walks, feed pets, answer bellrings and run 
errands. 

24 



HOUSEHOLD HINTS 25 

In the evening father reads the news aloud, 
and the smaller ones listen from their beds, while 
we discuss it. During the reading some of us 
mend, pop corn, and braid rags; and some whet 
knives, oil shoes or shave kindling. Thus my busy 
family are intelligent and up to date. 

I put breakfast into the fireless cooker — and 
lay the table at night, measuring coffee, and cut- 
ting bread. Father dishes up in the morning. 
When dressing my four children, I lay all handy, 
and remove soiled clothes before they wake. I 
wear a toilet apron with pockets for scissors, shoe 
laces and horn, camphor ice and needed things. 



CHEAP RESTORING 

Salted gasoline leaves no ring. 

Try steaming to remove a gasoline ring. 

A cut raw potato for mud stains. 

Rub a shiny coat with fine emery paper, or 
sponge with strong indigo bluing water, and 
press damp under a cloth. 

Or a light and dark bag of soapbark for 
woolens. 

Touch up colored gloves and shoes with a tube 
of oil paint. 

Sponge black silk with hot coffee, reverse and 
press damp. 

Suspend wrinkled velvet from the ceiling of 
bathroom and steam. 

Potato Water 

Grated raw potato and water, half and half; 
settle and strain off liquid. Sponge spots with 
clear liquid rinse, and press wrong side out. 

Soapy Gasoline 

Rub white soap on spots of fine woolen gar- 
ments ; put in washer, with gasoline and pump in 
the yard away from all fire. Rinse in clear gaso- 

26 



HOUSEHOLD HINTS 27 

line. Settle fluid in corked vessel, and pour off 
clear part to use again. 

Chalk 

Travelers and all people should use colored 
chalk on spots. It's cheap, safe, easy to carry, 
and not messy. Rub green chalk on green mate- 
rial, and pink on pink, blow and brush. Repeat : 
AVhite chalk for white collars and shoes. 

Suds 

A wool suit of wiry firm weave mav be re- 
stored with white soap and water. Do not drag 
on washboard, nor twist. Scrub pockets, knees 
and soiled parts with white soap jell. Pump in 
washer in strong warm suds, rinse in two warm 
waters, and hang dripping in warm breeze ; press 
under damp cloth. 

M M M 

Send a wire hanger to school for each woolen 
wrap — else the heavy wet garment soon pulls out 
of shape. Make an initial with kindergarten 
crayon inside each rubber. 

A fine wire across top of window, and a row 
of dress hooks on top hem of curtain, — makes 
curtain durable and easy to change. 

Mending tissue, pressed with a hot iron into a 
silk hem, prevents fraying of buttonholes. 



28 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

Cut from old overalls the strongest parts; 
shape pockets for children and wash. Denim is 
best for pockets. 

Some like a slice of firm sponge, covered for a 
pin cushion. Give a cardboard base, and let 
swing from belt of sewer. 

Women with more patience than judgment 
have knitted bedspreads of grocer's twine — these 
are hard to make, and heavy in the tub. Use 
ruffled crepe. 

Buy no fancy hose of which a broken stitch 
runs down six or eight inches; such are a hope- 
less proposition to mend. 

Straw hats may be soaked, ripped, and re- 
shaped for doll hats or adorable wee baskets for 
the Yule tree. Dip in dye. 

Baste torn lace on to paper, and stitch on 
machine ; following missing parts of the design — 
tear away paper. Make durable any lace by 
running a linen thread near edge. 

Fit rubbers on to gumboots when buying. 
Wade in boots until leaky, then adjust rubbers 
on to boots and wear in wet grass only. 

Keep a new mucilage brush to clean joints of 
machine. Fumes of kerosene help to loosen 
gummy lint; keep a kerosened flannel under 
works. 

Stocking caps, if faded or torn, trim shorter 



HOUSEHOLD HINTS 29 

and expose the inner side, reverse a double cap. 
Crochet a three-inch band of a contrasting color, 
and add with silk tassel to cap. 

Worn Handbag 

Paste or sew velvet to match street suit, over 
bag — double and knot a silk cord for a handle. 
Affix a silver monogram pried from an old purse. 
The effect is dressy. 

Secure Child's Hat 

Fasten six inches of narrow flesh-colored 
braid, like a "V" at each side; use wide elastic to 
join "Vs." The narrow cuts into flesh. 

Cover canvas for a wall pocket, nothing else is 
strong enough. 

Linen for Nose 

Linen takes moisture instantly, while cotton 
and silk redden and "raw" the nose. A torn or 
pieced old linen handkerchief is better than the 
fanciest cotton. 

Sweater Economy 

Buy large and three of a color — later shape 
the worst worn into sleeves for the best, doubling 
under sleeves. Quilt shoulder seams with rib- 
bons of like color. Widen sleeves when damp 
—thus they wear longer. 



so THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

Scents 

Did you ever buy perfume and get mainly 
alcohol and glass? Get a choice bouquet soap, a 
violet shaving soap will answer, and keep in 
chest. Pass over face and hands, or shave a little 
into liquid hot starch, to perfume, and make easy 
ironing. 

To Patch Towels 

Patch the middle part of all towels, and double 
their life — quilt a tiny turkish onto a big one. 
Kitchen wipers are more absorbent if doubled in 
central part — also more durable. 

Hose 

Buy at dozen rates, and large. Double top 
for six inches or more to catch rubbing at knee — 
use old leg for this — and quilt heel with four-inch 
cap. Twenty minutes' work on a new pair, 
doubles its life. Foot hose if they are worth the 
time and turn leg around to catch knee wear in 
a new spot. Flour sacking heel caps on wool 
socks. 

Leftover Embroidery Silk 

Rays of different color on pillow top. Stars 
on sailor collar, rays on mitts, or form a silk tassel 
for cap. Work wheels in white machine lace to 
match gown; this redeems cheap lace. Form 
silk balls and fix around edge of pillow. 



HOUSEHOLD HINTS 81 

Bloomers 

Keep wool bloomers on girls, in damp climes; 
and for these the wiry tough weaves of men's 
clothes are excellent — hanging full, a patch or 
moth hole does not show. If goods are scant, 
attach a yoke of stout cotton. 

Tub Comforter 

For a tub comforter, baste onto a six by seven 
cheesecloth — icewool shawls, zephyr goods, light 
sock legs, and underwear laid fiat, and parts of 
sweaters. Enclose between a blue and a white 
lawn — the knots of blue yarn showing on white 
side. If blue runs a little it makes the white 
whiter. This is pretty, tubs well, durable and 
low cost. 

Tag Ends 

Ravel good yarn for tying comforters. 

Sugar sacks to cover them. 

Flour sacks for durable linings, and corset 
covers. 

Old silk gloves to form thimbles on tips of 
new. 

Alpaca clippings inside a down pillow. 

Crochet a new silk cover for large old buttons. 

Crochet shells along a scrap of insertion or 
rickrack. 



32 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

Unbecoming silk for basket lining, coat lining, 
or for a petticoat flounce. 

Lay fragile old lace on a velvet gown, and 
pick out the design with tiny pearl buttons. 

Save the best parts of scorched or torn sus- 
penders; such is stronger than elastic by the 
yard. 

Mattress 

A thin wool mattress is easier to make and to 
turn than a thick one. Shape case less than 
three inches thick — sewing seams twice — stuff 
with clean w^ool rags, and tie with linen twine 
with tabs above and below. Some leave middle 
seam open and safety-pinned for a couple of feet 
— thus the filling can be readjusted with the arm 
— the edges tend to thicken unduly. With care- 
ful construction, a warm durable mattress can be 
made in a half day, and several dollars saved. 

Crocheted Rugs 

Some shut-ins make pretty rugs of the unsatis- 
factory fabrics, which collect almost by the dray- 
load. Wool rags are cut a half inch, cotton 
wider, and joined. A large hook is made from 
a bone toothbrush. After trying a bit, and 
catching the backstitch; a corded effect may be 
had on the right side. Make rug oblong, or 



HOUSEHOLD HINTS 33 

round, striped or bordered, as desired. Looks 
handsome on a polished floor. 

Strength from the Sub-Conscious 

Do you feel puzzled and unequal to a hard 
task? Lay out tools and materials in the even- 
ing, and make a small start. As you sink to 
sleep, think of this task with cheery confidence, 
and picture details of work to yourself. After 
one or two nights, you will be surprised at your 
confidence and ability. Only hope and wait and 
think; you can draw undreamed-of power from 
the subconscious. 

Tiny Handkerchiefs 

Do you receive many tiny, cotton gift hand- 
kerchiefs — too small for usefulness? With a 
square of thin linen, double the center of each — a 
small double cloth is as absorbent as a large 
single one. Enlarge a small one with honiton 
braid; and crochet a pretty edging on that, or 
stitch solid the raised figure or scallop, with silk 
to match gown, and turn the article into a collar. 
One w^oman makes many gifts — tea aprons, baby 
caps, yokes — from handkerchiefs. 

Knit Coats 

These desen^e their popularity — ^they do not 
bind a worker's arms, they turn a light rain — if 



34 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

wool, they tub well and shape beautifully to the 
figure. Make a child's coat from the piece trunk 
— of two colors if goods is scant. A becoming 
coat was once made by exposing the wrong side 
of thick all wool underwear — which looked like 
some expensive cloaking. Front and back were 
cut and joined — legs shaped for sleeves — big 
buttons closed the front and a rolling collar of 
Angora yarn crocheted, was basted and looked 
warm and furry. It was removed at tubbing. 

M M M 

Alkali rubbing, acid heating, then sunshine, to 
move almost any stain. Repeat if necessary. 

Whip dry knit underwear smartly on a post — 
this moves more dirt than rubbing. 

Scrub edges of a quilt on an outdoor table with 
boiled soap — then pump in a machine. 

Have thick, sunny parallel wires low at one 
end, and near door for drying. 

Some velvet may be pumped in white soap 
suds, rinsed twice and hung dripping. Do not 
twist nor rub. 

Soak an old nameless stain in buttermilk 
overnight, rinse, wet with lemon juice and sun. 
Turn and use more juice. 

A bit of crepe paper in last rinse for fading 



HOUSEHOLD HINTS 35 

garments — f)urple for lavender or a scrap of red 
for pink. 

The serviette task is always with us. Have 
them small and rub two at once, rinse in hot acid 
water and roll a group in a towel. If ironed wet 
the same day they have a gloss, are white and 
stiff. 

Cotton camping clothes for children are fire- 
proofed this way: A pound of ammonium 
phosphate to a gallon of cold water. Dip gar- 
ments and dry. 

A wringer oozes out oil, breaks tub, snaps off 
buttons, entangles collars, makes obstinate wTin- 
kles, and wrenches the user's back. Even thick 
woolens are best hung dripping in a warm breeze. 
Heave this evil contrivance over the rear fence 
and use the hand — it's innocent of these six 
counts. 

Woolens are shrunken by resin soap, by hard 
rubbing and twisting, by putting from hot to 
cold water and by lying wet. Give them the op- 
posite treatment and shake smartly to raise nap. 
Alkalis in soap rot wool — correct by using a 
little acid in last warm rinse. 



GIFTS FROM THE PIECETRUNK 

Mats 

Crochet mats of corset laces, and pillow covers 
of thread. 

Hops 

A hops pillow for nervousness, or pains in jaw 
or neck. 

Hair Drier 

Bind a crownless straw brim with cambric; 
draw over head to ears, and scatter wet hair 
over it. 

Cleaners 

Fill a small bag with soapbark, and hang in 
the bathroom for quick removal of spots. 

Shoe Driers 

Fill two small bags with raw, whole oats ; hang 
in a warm place with a cord ; and put one in each 
wet shoe overnight to draw the water — the shoes 
dry soft. Dry oats and use again. 

Linen Slips 

Some heads leave tenacious black stain on 
muslin slip — for such, use checked linen towel- 
ing; it wears and bleaches well. Work every 

86 



HOUSEHOLD HINTS 37 

second check solid on linen slip, for a pretty 
border. 

Bath Mitt 

Quilt turkish toweling mitts double, with oat- 
meal and orris root inside; attach to this thumb- 
less mitt a wristband of drill, and put initial on 
driU. 

Blossom Pillow 

Store lavender, lemon verbena, and rose 
petals; add feathers to fluff out a big pillow. 
Covered with fine matting; it helps to furnish, 
and is pleasant to the eye and the nose. 

Clutter Screen 

Enclose a low table in the corner, with a 
screen, if your child has no playroom. Cover a 
clothes horse with stout material, and have sev- 
eral buttoned pockets, for paste, string, scissors, 
crayons, etc. 

Crochet Baskets 

On oval or round hoops, crochet basket with 
linen twine, fishline, or yarn. Have three sizes, 
and suspend the smallest on top from a cage 
hook. Small balls around top for a pretty 
finish. Have three small at dressing table or 
three large in living room. 



GETTING EASY RESULTS 

Chemicals and machines — as substitutes for 
hand rubbing — are urged upon us by ads and 
peddlers, but we still rub. Hand work 'concen- 
trates upon streaks while the other dirt starters 
treat the whole and wear it sadly. Use these 
after hand work and for stiff and heavy pieces. 
Buy metal machine and tubs and arrange them 
on porch or arbor so that a blueflame may be 
slipped under each in turn. Fill with hose and 
have ditch handy to conduct slops away. 

Do you know that lemon juice is a powerful 
cleaner and is used in many public laundries. 
Sunshine is a cleanerj^ too, but bluing only dis- 
guises the dirt — heat is a dirt starter, and certain 
chemicals — use strong powders on a little brush 
and escape being flayed. 

Three of the worst features of washday are 
unnecessary — the wringer, the far-flung line and 
the boiler. Hang to dry, on wires near the door 
and boil few pieces — heating fabrics usually in hot 
acid water in a bread dish pan, which is easy to 
see into. 

Accustom the hands to very hot, strong suds 
and rub deftly at the very bottom of board, driv- 
ing a torrent of suds through every fibre. 

38 



HOUSEHOLD HINTS S» 

Hand rub in hot suds in first tub, and toss into 
second or third or even fourth. The second ves- 
sel is a machine for stiff and heavy pieces — many 
skip this. The third vessel is a hot, clear water 
to remove alkalies so that acid can eat out stains. 
The fourth vessel is a hot acid water to treat the 
dirt that the soap could not start. 

Hang bed garments three cornered on two 
wires, and throw a rug over two. Shake wool 
skirts or heavy pieces when nearly dry and hang 
at different spots to preserve shape. Dry dish 
towels in the kitchen, and lay small pieces on the 
clover. 



HELPS AND LABOR SAVERS 

The market is flooded with contrivances for the 
housewife, but many of these "labor savers" are 
more bother to wipe, screw together, turn and 
clean after using them, than their assistance is 
worth. Sausage stuffers, bread mixers, cherry 
stoners, wringers, peelers, etc., may be needed in 
business enterprises, but in the cottage they are 
dust traps, and fly roosts, seldom used and much 
in the way. After a few years in one house, the 
junk man's dray can be filled with vexing pop- 
dooles and the owners are glad to see the last of 
them. Use the human hand — it's deft and will- 
ing, and it will not develop a loose wheel today, a 
slipping cog tomorrow, and rust the third day. 

For real help, put money into a blue flame or 
electric cooker, a vacuum cleaner, a light turning 
washer, a sewing machine, glassy surface, non- 
rusting bath and utensils, linen wipers, and 
other Easy- Way fittings. Buy new and elabo- 
rate contrivances with caution. Every house- 
keeper can tell of new patent mops useless in a 
week or two, of costly lamps of Stygian gloom, 
or of a freezer which needed a Hercules to oper- 
ate it. 

40 



HOUSEHOLD HINTS 41 

Hiring human help is another idea to pause 
over. Maids often break and eat the equal of 
their wages, discuss the family over the fence, 
and they have not the skill or patience to teach 
the young the highly profitable trade of home- 
making. Employers, too, leave much to be de- 
sired since they flee in disgust from their 
smudgy, stuffy, dark, greasy kitchens, they do 
their full share of the backbiting, they are often 
discourteous and unprogres^ive, and they fail to 
respect a long-houred and lonely class of pro- 
ducers. Let us hope as the race advances that 
the Golden Rule will be practiced more fully. 
Meanwhile, have an Easy- Way cottage and keep 
no help. 

M M M 

Every crack means bugs. 

Steam squash before peeling. 

A honey and rhubarb conserve for colds. 

Buttered popcorn for costiveness. 

Alum in the stove polish for a lasting shine. 

Stop a stove crack with ashes, salt and water. 

Melt chocolate drops, for a quick icing. 

Dry sliced fruit in a ventilated hotbed. 

Mix sugar and ginger to prevent lumping. 

]Mince meat and crumbs for a spicy pudding. 

Stone marbles in boiling syrup lessen burning. 



42 THE WOMAN'S ^MANUAL 

Lemon juice is a powderful cleaner, in or out, 
of body. 

Cracked glass jars are still mouse and dust 
proof. 

Cold water rinsing, before washing a milky 
glass. 

Bacon rinds for kindling, or chopped for the 
hens. 

Peach kernels stoned, for added flavor in 
foods. 

In rainy climes underripe peapods are edible. 

Grease the edge of rice pot to prevent boiling 
over. 

Butter fingers, to stuff figs and seed raisins. 

Pour hot tea over a bit of peppermint candy. 

Apple and pineapple trimmings for jell. 

Submerge butter in flour when camping. 

Warm and remold a frozen gelatine pudding. 

Serve lemon candy drops in saucer with tea. 

Onl};^ 2 per cent nourishment in canned toma- 
toes. 

Soak no ivory handles, nor egg beater cogs. 

Keep "smelly" supplies in the woodshed. 

Add veal to eke out a chicken pie. 

Slice toast in the evening — a frozen loaf cuts 
hard. 

Rock in a rocker, and whip cream, by shaking 
a glass fruit jar. 



HOUSEHOLD HINTS 43 

Rock in a rocker, and churn a little butter the 
same way. 

Cedar sawdust on a hot lid to correct food 
odors. 

To clear a smoky room, wring a towel from 
warm water and vinegar, and wave. 

Two shades, middle and top, on a high window 
for privacy and sun. To tighten an umbrella 
handle, put a thread around the screw part, do 
not glue. For piazza screen, cover a clothes 
horse; making pockets for needle work. 

Crochet table mats of round corset laces, 
bought at wholesale, they are cheap, tub well and 
never wrinkle. 

Figured draperies do not dye well, use spar- 
ingly, and in north rooms. 

Two parallel high wires for drying wraps in 
the house. 

INIelt white soap scraps with water, borax and 
citronella, for a fragrant bath jell. 

For a green center piece, sprinkle coarse flan- 
nel with flaxseed; sew around a glass, and place 
in saucer of water. Grows in two weeks. 

For a dancing floor, shave wax candle ends, 
rub in with feet, and scatter a little cornmeal. 

Is the cork in a bottle? Keep a U shaped 
wire, in neck, and it cannot obstruct. 

Use oxalic acid water to make tables and 



44 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

shelves snowy. Pad a box, rimmed on three 
sides, add racks for soap and brush, and kneel in 
it to scrub. 

To brighten a dark, small room, paint walls 
and rugless floor edge, in a scheme of white and 
yellow. 

Teach children to buy soft lead pencils, to re- 
move much w^ood, and to use a little file often. 
Soap the screws of a leaky fountain pen. To 
restore the spreading tip of a fountain pen take 
the pinchers and bend it d'^wn a bit. Try heat- 
ing with a match, a troublesome steel pen. It 
often writes like new. 

Expose oil of lavender, where books mildew. 

M ^ ^ 
Memory Jogs 

In one home, a large sheet of paper, often re- 
newed, appeared inside the closet door. Here in 
bright crayon and big letters were reminders. 
*'Lodge Tonight." "Who loaned the law^n 
mower?" "Two visitors come Sunday." No 
one arriving or leaving failed to see. 

Too Small Chimney 

A small chimney on a big lamp, smoked oddly 
at the very top, but when a match was laid under, 
it burned with great clarity. The current 
through a small tube is more forceful than 



HOUSEHOLD HINTS 45 

through a big. Press in the four prongs, and 
use any small chimneys on hand. 

Ugly Clocks 

Many clocks are fussy and ugly shams. For 
good time keeping an alarm clock, often re- 
newed, is quite reliable. To make suited to mis- 
sion furniture, have a round hole in bottom of 
lidless cigar box, and outline with a dial-ring 
from an old clock. Dye box to match room, and 
boil in oil to harden, if desired. Place alarm 
clock inside. 

Salt 

Brine to clean willow furniture. 

Scrub a hot stove with salt. 

Rub stains on crockery with salt. 

Salty slops for some plants. 

Salt on an icy doorstep. 

Salt for a lasting candle light; pack it around 
the flame. 

Sprinkle fine salt on a wool sockleg, to polish a 
mirror. 

Salt and vinegar to clean brass ; rub with olive 
oil for durable polish. 

Porch Privacy 

Is your screen near the street? For privacy 
paint the screen with light tint, using thin paint 
sparingly. Thus outsiders can not see in. 



TO LESSEN ELBOW ACTIVITY 

Drop cookie dough from a s230on. 

Use a soap, with much energ}^ and little froth. 
Scald dishes and do little wiping — do not iron 
wiping linen. Use ruffled crepe on the windows 
— use runners on eating table. 

Cut a hard squash with the can opener, steam 
citron, and cut warm. Label glass with kinder- 
garten crayon. 

Shelled peanuts and stoned raisins are as 
cheap as the natural kinds. 

Save dirty work for one day and one suit. 

Clean fish, fowl and vegetables on a paper and 
burn. 

A greased earthen platter for shaping loaves 
— a shiny wrapping paper for rolling pie paste. 

Use glass jars with wire clamp fasteners — no 
screws. 

Do not stem currants, but wash, heat, mash 
and drain juice. 

Hold greens in bunches by the roots and souse 
— remove roots only when all are w^ashed. 

Put even dried bread scraps into a canvas bag 
and pound with a wooden mallet — do not grind. 

46 



HOUSEHOLD HINTS 47 

Scald and cool pots to clean, tomatoes to skin, 
fish to scale and some nuts to shell easily. 

Do not stir plum butter all day ; it cannot burn 
in bean pots in the oven with a pitcher of the 
same to refill from. 

Feed your coal fire from flat syrup tins — they 
are easy to lift and easy to scrape full. Have 
two, of two gallon size, and use alternatel}^ — fill- 
ing each with water and pouring off before using 
— wet coal starts slowly but gives surprising 
heat. 

One woman sweeps boiling suds off her board 
floor into an uncorked hole — then clear water 
and last a hot acid water to bleach — the air dries 
it very white. Thus she saves time, backache 
and uses water too hot to touch. 

M M M 
Is it Pure 

Lift a knitting needle from pure milk, and see 
it run down and form a heavy drop at the end — 
watered it drips small and quick. Boil pure and 
fake butter in two spoons — the pure boils quietly, 
the fake splutters. 

Iceless Refrigerator 

Put a strong screen on back and front of a 
portable shelf cupboard. Cover closely with 
cotton flannel; and have tabs of this project into 



48 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

a pan of water, from which water draws down 
and evaporates. 

Energy 

An energetic child or employee shows in part 
or fully: square shoulders, jaw and front jutting 
chin, bright eyes, straight, well-marked brows, 
stiff upper lip and large and hard cheeks. Head 
high in crown and broad from ear to ear. 

Apples to Fill Chinks 

Keep dried apples or peaches handy to fill the 
chinks in cooking. With almost enough berries 
for pie, pudding or jell, cut dried fruit fine, wash 
and eke out the dish, — they are not recognized. 
Thicken stewed fruit sauce or tone down the too 
spicy mincemeat with apple pulp. 

Double the quantity of your catsup with apple 
pulp and add a bit of spice. When tired of po- 
tatoes for breakfast, steam dried fruit, sprinkle 
with vinegar, and brown in bacon fat — garnish 
with slices of bacon. 

Cool in Dogdays 

Cool the house with evaporation in dogdays; 
hang netting over each open window — green is 
soothing to eye — and let hang on a pan of water 
to draw up and evaporate. With a cross current 
this quickly cools. In one hot clime home they 



HOUSEHOLD HINTS 49 

turn the hose onto a screened arbor three times a 
day, and eat in the bower, each leaf dripping 
water. 

To Clean a Ceiling 

Boil suds on an oil-stove in a closed room, 
to steam ceiling. Wipe north and south with 
linen on a new broom ; wipe east and west with a 
vinegared cloth. Repeat. 

Hidden Flaw 

A cracked mirror was placed in a corner, and 
patched with a silver ribbon. A vase of dried 
grass drooped one strand artlessly over flaw. 
Visitors admired this "perfect" bevel-edged 
mirror. 

Old Carpet 

A woman of lean purse had a worn and faded 
stair carpet. She padded the bare steps with old 
blankets, and laid the old carpet back up, and 
cleaned ; stenciling the edge a bit. Her new car- 
pet was noiseless, and looked like some cool art 
fabric. 

Two Waves 

One woman does her housecleaning in two peri- 
ods. In March she looks to repairs of knobs, 
hinges, mattresses, and chairs ; she disposes of old 
clothes, and adjusts screens and stoves. In April 



50 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

it is quite easy to clean and recover walls, floors, 
and windows. 

Trunk Seat 

A young mother found in the attic some mat- 
ting, a pillow and a steamer trunk. She padded 
the top of trunk and covered it with matting. 
With a wide flounce of cretonne around trunk, 
and castors under, the children had a shoebox 
and a trunk seat. 

Sun Heated 

Water for domestic use may be sun-heated in 
some climes. Have a large roof tank, glass- 
topped, black-lined, and enclosed with non- 
conductors. Perhaps a burning glass would 
help. Pipe water from tank to bath and sink. 

Scribble Paper 

Use unpictured magazines or government re- 
ports for scribbling. Turn sideways and write 
with kindergarten crayon. Use to add accounts, 
draft letters and note "guess recipes" for re- 
vision. 
Snoring 

People on their backs snore. One man ad- 
justed around himself a string with a spool on it; 
so that the spool hurt him when he lay face up. 
He instinctively turned, and the vocal eruptions 
ceased. 



HOUSEHOLD HINTS 51 

Rest Eyes 

After hours of fine sewing, bathe the aching 
eyes in hot water, then cold — treating base of 
brain also. Heat eases congestion, cold strength- 
ens the nerves. 

Dulling Food 

A big greasy or soggy breakfast is dulling. 
Thousands of long-lived enthusiastic workers 
take coffee only. 

Hair Sheen 

Vinegar in the last hot rinse, corrects the 
gummy dull look of hair — gives a beautiful cop- 
pery sheen, and glinting lights to brown tresses. 

Bums 

Essence of peppermint for a smarting burn — 
or poultice with vaseline and soda. Use gentle 
heat on heat injuries, and gentle cold on fresh 
bites. A woman's small burns are often healed 
without design, being immersed in dishwater. 

Steam Baths 

A steam bath (or a hot immersion) relieves or 
eases, headache, earache, pimples, falling hair, 
itching bites, and rheumatism. Scaly chapped 
arms resisted all remedies for ease but promptly 
healed after a twice-a-week steam bath begun. 
The baths clear the skin, brighten the mind, re- 



52 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

lieve nervousness and give a pliant body — they 
are especially needed in cool, foggy climes. 
Bathe and increase your comfort, your beauty 
and your usefulness. Does a Japanese ever 
look pimply, pursy, scaly or blotchy? 

Chapping 

Thin-skinned people are often seriously crip- 
pled for suds work by obstinate chapping. Use 
mild vinegar to neutralize soap in pores, after 
dishwashing — toughen arms by plunging from 
hot water into snowbank. 

No surface remedy reaches the fevered blood, 
which is the cause — cool and purify with steam 
baths. 

Toughen Feet 

A famous walker treats his pedals thus: A 
cup rock salt in a quart of boiling water and five 
quarts cold. Soak feet five minutes in this and 
drv. Rub feet with alcohol and water, half and 
half — rub dry. This is said to toughen feet and 
remove corns in a month. JNIany women are 
plucky long distance walkers, but unknown to 
fame. They do it between the woodpile, the 
cupboard and the stove. 

Aprons 

Cheap fading and wrinkling gingham needs 
so much starching and ironing that it costs more, 



HOUSEHOLD HINTS 53 

all considered, than a firm sensible zephyr. Is 
there any cotton goods so pretty, so easy to tub, 
and so durably-hued, as zephyr? A white edged 
bib apron changed daily, is more becoming than 
a costly gown and — if hung straight — needs no 
ironing. To double life of apron, put a two foot 
pocket over the stomach part to catch heat and 
rubbing. 

Some who attend the front door between 
kitchen activities prefer a small invisible panel 
apron made of material like gown. 

Head Lice 

Soak scalp with kerosene and sweet oil, half 
and half, and wear a cap over night. Wash hair 
in warm suds, rinse twice and dry. Boil white 
vinegar, and use warm on dry hair, to remove 
nits. This gives clean, glinting beautiful hair. 
Many people without vermin use kerosene to 
stimulate and clean. 

To Elase Gasping 

Thousands of purs3% gasping women could 
get relief if they would swallow lemon juice 
daily, eat sparely and take steam baths. This 
acid contains oxygen, which in the stomach some- 
how eases the straining, weary lungs, which 
usually supply the system. Did you ever notice 
that some people carry much fat quite easily? 



54 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

Wash children quickly after they have cheese 
or smoked fish — else every doorknob, coat, and 
handle, in the house is malodorous. 

Slice crumbly bread thick and toast one side, 
or you will find half of it on the floor. 

To delay souring put away milk in red glass or 
stir in a little grated horse radish. 

For a quick, hot, satisfying Imich, enclose 
cheese between bread slices, dip in egg and milk, 
and fry brown. 

Let salted cornmeal swell in water, bake cakes 
in wood ashes. Good for acidity of stomach. 

Peeled potato water for soup, for bread 
sponge, to brighten an old pot or to soak salt fish. 

Make doughnuts unshortened, fry in hard, hot 
fat, and steam in colander. These do not bring 
out a crop of swollen angry cold sores, on the 
face. 

Add spice and cranberry jell to a soda cake 
dough and bake in layers. It is said to keep two 
or three months. 

Is your sugar and vinegar candy too hard? 
Warm, stir in cold sugar, flavor and pour over 
puffed rice. Brittle and goes further than solid 
candy. 

For a dyspeptic make unshortened cake with 
fruit in it — steam in lard pails and eat hot. 
Cornstarch keeps mixture from falling easil3\ 



HOUSEHOLD HINTS 55 

Heat and shell eggs when cheap — can air tight 
with young beets. Handy for a rush meal. 

Burning pepper or mustard in the stomach 
provokes or increases alcoholism — accustom the 
young to blend foods. 

Mustard in quantity causes obstinate constipa- 
tion for days. 

Some brew leftover coffee with fresh berry for 
a strong drink, or use cold liquid for fudge, for 
cake, for custard or to clean black silk. 

^ ^ M 
Matting 

Cut each piece six inches longer than the room, 
ravel and tie cords; thus it never frays. 

White Rug 

Braid white rags into a rug for a white cham- 
ber, stencil edge, or add border. 

Cheap Dye 

Boil common dye and apply hot to wall and 
furniture, for a uniform effect. Desirable for 
playhouses, ledges and barn dancing rooms. 

Footwear 

Do not tread on rubbers, but omit bottom step 
of back stairs and keep in this retreat. 



56 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

Vase 

With gay yarn crochet a cover for an ugly or 
mended vase, to match room. Keep shot in bot- 
tom of tall slender vase. 

Pail Seat 

Cover, hinge, pad, and cretonne a candy pail, 
for a bedroom seat and hamper. 

Two Ways 

Use mirrors two ways, put a good one between 
windows for view of person; or put a cheap one 
in a dull corner, to brighten and 'enlarge" the 
room. 

To Repel Flies 

Dust black pepper freely about, in cesspool or 
vault; the smell is diffusive, and all flies speedily 
decamp. Better than kerosene spray. 

Silver 

Put away silver in blue canton flannel, never 
white. Keep gum camphor in chest. Thus the 
metal needs little polishing. 

Worn Shade 

Cut off worn end, and fix on upside down, with 
care to keep straight. Add hem and stick. 

Cheap Matches 

Men express lurid sentiments when striking 
sulphur matches. Scratch two at once, sepa- 



HOUSEHOLD HINTS 57 

rated; let lower flame join the upper, for a 
double draught is strong. Thus one man hap- 
pily used sulphur matches for years. 

Tools 

One man supported all tools against the wall, 
each outlined with red paint. Thus his sons 
kept each in j^lace, and a glance revealed a loss. 

Scrim 

Good scrim is worth remodeling. Shape a 
torn long curtain into sash curtains and bureau 
runner; and applique a row of geese or rabbits 
for a child's room. 

Rear Entry 

Few parts of the house are so important as the 
woodshed, or spacious rear entry. Like a sentry 
on duty, this challenges mud, flies, dogs, and a 
deal of clutter, which would otherwise enter the 
living rooms. Have here wire loops for rubber 
boots. Upside down, for whips and snow-shoes, 
wires for a wet day wash, bed for the dog, and 
shelf for smelly groceries. Lacking outbuild- 
ings, carpenter's table may stand here. 

One Big Room 

Scarcely any mistake in building causes such 
endless drudgery as having many big rooms ; and 
high ceilings with many steps between floors. Bed- 



58 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

room or kitchen harbor only one or two persons at 
one time. A living room, on the contrary, must 
often hold the family, a hireling, or guest or two, 
and even the cat and dog. A generous window 
seat of seven feet accommodates several of these. 
One man, who built several times, made his bed- 
rooms successively smaller — though airy; and his 
living room bigger, each time, the last time with 
a seven foot window seat. 

To Clean Windows 

Many people, with warm suds and cotton 
wipers, clean glass, and execrate the job. Let 
your rule be "Much heat, little water, and linen 
wipers." Cany a spirit lamp about; have hot 
water with a few drops of kerosene in it, and 
renew often. Brush around glass ; lift a soft rag 
from boiling water and put much heat in glass. 
Wipe quickly with coarse linen, and polish with 
a wool sockleg, springled with fine salt. Your 
glass will scintillate, like a gem in the setting sun. 
No patent preparation is better than above. 
Have you noticed, how rare a shining window is ? 
Few people understand that the cheap and quick 
way is the best way. 

Ye Old Lantem 

Nothing modern replaces the old lantern of 
our grandsires. A four-year-old may carry it 



HOUSEHOLD HINTS 59 

up and down stairs without danger, or a child 
may carry it to the toilet in the night ; in the root 
closet it keeps out the frost. Warm hands on 
it during chores, or set it under the hen's drink- 
ing water. Hang near head, when reading in 
bed, or sweep toward it in dull weather. Dr}^ a 
wet spot on the mattress over a low flame, while 
at breakfast. 

No Cost Fuel 

A widow warmed her rooms each evening with 
a driftwood knot and a bag of rubbish, in a big 
airtight heater. It is surprising how much waste 
the children found and confined in bundles, leav- 
ing the locality neater. Bones, old shoes, hats, 
brooms, sunflower stalks, gumbeets, cabbage 
roots, fishheads, bits of rope, rags and bark, were 
mixed with wet sawdust, and laid handy for a 
no-cost fuel. 

Oilcloth 

Use oilcloth for stencils, for covering cook- 
books and school-books, for making mothbags 
and for lining picnic baskets. 

Oilcloth on an eating table has an evil reputa- 
tion ; because it slips about, curls at the edge, col- 
lects black smears at the edge; and because ugly 
colors are used, and without a silence cloth, too. 
Tack white oilcloth securely to a padded table, 



60 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

wash the edge daily, and have an eating surface 
better than linen. 

Morning Rush 

To ease the morning rush, one mother scatters 
her family ten minutes before bedtime. The 
father looks to furnace, tank and the locking of 
doors ; the boys fetch fuel and oil shoes, after put- 
ting books and toys in place ; the girl puts family 
rooms in order and uses vacuum cleaner; while 
the mother lavs all handv for breakfast. No 
more cleaning up is needed until after midday. 



CHEAP AND SAFE PEST REDUCERS 

Moths 

Sprinkle red pepper to repel. 
Roaches 

Stale beer attracts them and lays them low. 
Moles 

Put mothballs in runs and close. 
Fleas 

Raw meat in center of big sticky flypaper. 
Bed Bugs 

Boiling alum water in cracks, corners and over 
springs. Have much paint, no wall paper, and 
few cracks. 

Ants 

Pour kerosene into hill. Use cayenne pepper 
in cracks. Grow peppermint, and keep spiders 
and toads near outside wall. Lay sticky fly- 
paper at night. 

Mosquitoes 

Empty cans and tubs on deserted lots and 
camping grounds — drain pools. Pour kerosene 
on swamps ; or turn out a flock of ducks. These 
birds are Nature's check for the pest. 

61 



62 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

Rodents 

Get the free government bulletin, "How to 
Destroy Rats." The non-venomous kingsnake 
cleans them up better than ferret or cat. Offer 
the children a bounty and traps. Stop all rat- 
holes but one with warm soap and glass. Place 
trap here in a packing box. 

Flies 

Crush into a rag and burn, early blowflies. En- 
courage spiders and toads outside. Place a pet 
toad on the window sill with molasses before him 
to draw flies down. Crude petroleum and water, 
from a sprinkling can on manure, cess pools and 
rubbish. Black pepper in vaults for a repellant 
smell. Flies perch above kitchen screens, to en- 
joy heat and smells. At dawn scores are found 
stiff and helpless with cold. Sweep down, en- 
close in bags and destroy. 

Kerosene 

With hot water to clean paint. 
For tarry hands, for chilblains, for headlice. 
For rusty metal, gummy tubs and clogged ma- 
chinery. 

On screens to clean wire and repel flies. 
On pools to prevent mosquito hatching. 
On refuse and manure to check fly hatching. 
Kerosene flannel on neck to scatter swelling. 



HOUSEHOLD HINTS 63 

Apply lightly to face and hands, and escape 
bites of insects. 

Use hot alum water for bedbugs, it's not odor- 
ous nor greasy. 

M M M 
Scrap Book 

An old scrapbook, of ten years' making, is per- 
haps the most profitable reading to be had. It is 
the only book, by oneself, for oneself, exactly to 
fit one's needs — growing needs, for new items are 
pasted over outgrown ones. Fold pink building 
paper in the middle — sheets three by two is a 
good size — do not join, but read one double sheet 
at a time. A pink strip between clippings rests 
the eye, and makes items easy to find. Meta- 
physics inspire and feed the soul, verses and pic- 
tures cheer, and practical hints save money and 
drudgery. 

Surgical Adhesive Plaster 

For cheap, easy, quick, miscellaneous repairs. 
Apply warm, or smooth with a warm iron after 
applying. 

To replace worn linings in shoe heels. 

To stop draughts from wall cracks. 

To flatten curling rug corners. 

To hold bandages on wounds. 

For protruding corset steels. 



64 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

For holes in raincoat, rubber bag and garden 
hose. 

To strengthen a cheap crate for a knockabout 
basket. 

To bind around a spHntered hoe handle, or 
chair leg. 

Color 

Colors on walls and furnishings, react on mood 
and health. Nervous and vicious children, are 
soothed or healed by a wise choice. Rooms are 
small or large, eerie or cheery, warm or cold, ac- 
cording to tints chosen. 

All white tires the eye, and gives "snow blind- 
ness." 

White and yellow correct small gloomy rooms. 

White and pink for a girl's bedroom. 

White and blue is cool and pure in the kitchen. 

Brown or gray for glaring, sunny climes. 

A warm gray is easy to live with. 

Use scarlet sparingly, it stirs unholy impulses. 

System 

Let routine, early weekly or daily, suggest but 
not command; remind one of a thousand little 
duties, often varied by company, illness, etc. One 
woman thinks of her multiform duties in bun- 
dles; and she makes a great effort to finish each 
bundle begun. A bout with jell, pickles, or can- 



HOUSEHOLD HINTS 65 

ning is a bundle; the regular morning work is 
one; likewise, a thorough cleaning of the sleep- 
ing floor. It gives a pleasant sense of accom- 
plishment to finish deftly and well, and dismiss 
from mind, several duties a week; though others 
lie mountain high ahead. 

Letters 

Letter-writing, neat, of nice and gracious 
wording, inoffensive to book rule ; is more educa- 
tive than lecture or opera; and often gives much 
pleasure to others. Keep a cardboard strip of 
addresses, and words often misspelled in a long 
box, with dictionary, stationery, unanswered let- 
ters and clippings to be sent. After reading a 
letter pencil the envelope with items to be in- 
cluded in the answer — these might be forgotten. 
Paste ads inside of lid, and mark date beside 
each, after sending for catalogue or sample. 
Also paste here favorite verses and quotations 
for help in literary construction. 



PINS FROM THE CUSHION 

Discarded bastings for bird nest-making. 

Fishline or linen twine for making baskets. 

Cut and hem into towels a torn factory bed- 
spread. 

Mending wool underwear is the most profit- 
able of all repairs. 

Join soft rags and make broom covers for 
cleaning the ceiling. 

String gold beads on a violin string — it's dur- 
able and non-stretching. 

Apply pink dye carefully to the edge of faded 
hat flowers — they will look like new. 

Expose good, pearl buttons on boys' waists; 
they have no other trinmiing. 

Get wiping linen by the piece at wholesale — • 
it's sure to be needed. INIoth eaten or old robe 
or blanket to pad stair carpet or ironing board. 

A stiff, denim pocket on the under side of an 
invalid's pillow, for notebook, glasses and cloth. 

Big flannel collars — sailor — on children in 
damp climes ; the shoulders are sensitive, and first 
to get wet. 

Is the drawn work hem tearing on a good linen 
piece? Cover with rickrack, or finishing braid. 

66 



HOUSEHOLD HINTS 67 

Thin leather shoe tops for mattress-tabs, pot- 
lifters, hinges or for facing chopping mitts. 

Boil a bit of suspected material in caustic 
potash — wool dissolves, cotton is left. 

Have card in the outside pocket of shopping 
bag, giving sizes, colors and makes for each in 
the famil5^ 

Is the pin broken from your favorite brooch? 
With yelloAv silk sew it to collar — this is safer 
than pinning. 



REMNANTS AND SECONDHAND 
FURNITURE 

While old mattresses suggest infection, and 
clocks and sewing machines may need high priced 
repairs; some once-used household goods ac- 
quired cheaply, is desirable. Is there any wear- 
out to a castiron gempan, to a cojDper vase, to a 
brass bedstead ? 

Sink a cheap chiffonier into the wall, frame 
around and have a set of drawers, with no shov- 
ing about on sweepday. 

Construct a baby creeping pen of a hardwood 
bedstead ; or make a hall settee. 

Put pigeonholes, secondhand, on a common 
kitchen table, covered with felt. Attach square 
legs under it, maybe shelves, too; stain wax and 
have a near-craft desk. 

A cheap pedestal table once persisted in fall- 
ing apart, the screws being too shallow in the 
wood. Two doorless toy cupboards were painted 
and fastened two feet apart, and facing each 
other. The table top laid on these, was satisfac- 
tory for many years. 

Cover log, or studding walls, cheaply with 
remnants of floor oilcloth ; back out, paneled and 

68 



HOUSEHOLD HINTS 69 

painted. Draughtless, cheap, does not blister 
and tear. 

One woman had a rough floor and httle money. 
She laid clean river sand, then remnants of good 
linoleum, and painted all to a uniform color. One 
strip of hemp carpet in midroom, caught most all 
wear. 



GENERAL SUGGESTIONS 

Gasoline to clean a clock. 

Ammonia for a ding}'^ carpet. 

Vinegar to mix plaster of j)aris. 

A stub candle to cork the glue bottle. 

Loosen old sash putty with candle heat. 

Floor wax on sticking sashes and doors. 

Cretonne for homemade picture frames. 

Olive oil on leather books and furniture. 

River sand on a rough floor under linoleum. 

Milk on gasoline flames has saved lives. 

Soap on nail, before driving into hardwood. 

Beat rugs with a piece of rubber hose. 

Beat on an old wetted bedspring. 

Melted alum for loose handles on knives. 

Sweep a carpet with crumpled w^et paper. 

Hot salsoda water to move varnish. 

Dip a new broom into suds to lessen breakage. 

Move a stove on a new broom and save your 
back. 

Salt around a candle flame, for a lasting light. 

Glove finger on brass rod before putting on 
curtain. 

Prick ceiling blisters with a nail on a broom. 

Pail of w ater and hay, to absorb smell of paint. 

70 



HOUSEHOLD HINTS 71 

Boil wicks in vinegar for a clear light. 

Three legs under a painted cheesebox for a 
mending table. 

To raise fine glass, pat with a damp wool rag 
and burn. 

Polish mirror with damp linen, then wool, dry. 

Nail a slice of cork or rubber on short leg of a 
chair, and sink nail well. 

To tighten a screw, put in hole bits of sponge 
dipped in glue. 

Fix old broom handles over foot of bed for 
blanket airing rods. 



THE KITCHEN 



TO REDUCE IRONING AND TO DO IT 

To Lessen Ironing 

Unwise shopping causes much ironing — the 
laundry problem begins in the store. Shop 
wisely, and iron only an hour or two monthly — 
it's not a matter of sanitation like tubbing. 

Use linen lace at neck. 

Seersucker for gowns and rompers. 

Ruffled crepe for beds and windows. 

Dark wool bloomers, instead of underskirts. 

Soft galatea dries smooth after losing factory 
glue. 

Linen parts easily with dirt, and dries stiff. 

Have runner and small serviettes at meals. 

Buy firm gingham and use for flat pieces — 
aprons and comforters — only. 

Wring lawn curtains from thin, hot starch and 
flatten smoothly onto a bare table. They diy 
smooth and stiff. 

A tired farmwife returned her blue linen cloth 
wet and clean to the bare table — it dried 
smoothly stretched on the wood. Before eating 
she put silence felt under. 

75 



76 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

Ironing 

Sand paper to polish irons. 

Use cheap ironing sheet and renew often — else 
colors crock. 

A firebrick for a stand — it saves heat and pol- 
ishes. 

Pin delicate lace on bottle to scrub, starch and 
dry. 

Put a fresh handkerchief in each boy's waist 
pocket. 

Lift a rag from vinegar, rub a scorch, rinse 
and iron. 

To quickly iron a thick, dry fabric, steam in a 
pot, tossing once or twice. More diffusive than 
sprinkling. 

Use starch thin, hot, blued and strained, add 
a bit of perfumed soap to prevent sticking — it's 
glossy, clean and lessens rustling. Use borax 
instead of starch for sheer collars — its makes 
them transparent. 



FOR A CLEAN KITCHEN 

A safety pin for each meal bag. 

Wipe up quickly anything spilled. 

Crush and burn every fly daily. 

Blue and white looks cool and pure. 

Narrow shelves and low are the best. 

JNIice and roaches leave offensive smells. 

Keep dripping wraps and muddy boots out- 
side. 

Fish cleaning, and bacon slicing, on a paper. 

A tomcat backed to the wall leaves a tenacious 
odor. 

Matts, screens and scrapers intercept much 
dirt. 

Have a smokehood and a ventilator over cook- 
ing. 

The glassier all surfaces, the less dirt adheres. 

Frying fat sprays out three feet — cover it. 

Seven out of ten of your gray hairs are caused 
by your old fashioned coal range. 

Clean unironed towels are sweeter than ironed, 
teeming w^ith bacteria. Change often and do not 
iron. Hang a fresh roller after midday, it will 
look clean until night. 

Drain waste in colander and burn in coal 

77 



78 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

heater, with hamper open. A garbage pail is a 
fly magnet, a smell dispenser, and it freezes too 
easih^ for quick emptying. 

Cook heavily twice a week, after this whip 
down shelves with duster, polish windows, clean 
dishes, stoves and floor, change apron and clean 
fingernails. All will shine for a day or two. 

Tilt pot rack so that pots inverted do not show 
black bottoms. ]Many racks may be steel rods, 
instead of boards. 

Avoid copper and zinc, and metals which take 
much polishing. 

Wipe daily Avith hot suds, the sills, knobs, 
ledges chair. This takes but a moment and 
makes a big difference. 

^ M M 

Quick Curd 

Dash boiling water into clabber for quick 
cheese and fold. Line a colander with wet 
cheesecloth and place clabber in oven to drip. 

Small Items 

A long wall canvas with big and little pockets 
may hold some thirty or forty kitchen items. A 
camper or housewife who moves much may roll 
and pack it one place and fix it to the wall in her 
new home. 



THE KITCHEN 79 

Turning Plants 

If you lift and turn twenty flower pots daily, 
how many lifts and turns for a year? One 
woman had a revolving pillar, with plants in up 
and down rows on four sides. This pillar took 
but little room in a high window, and turned in a 
second. 

Blackening Stoves 

Swab a stove with vinegar to open pores of 
metal. Many deaths occur from exploding 
stove polish — mix it with alum or soap powder 
for safety and a durable luster. Stub broom for 
sides. 

Aluminum Paint 

One kitchen has aluminum paint on boiler, 
garbage pail, and metal bins. No stranger en- 
ters this kitchen without delighted comments. 

Walk 

Did you ever watch people walk? There is a 
mincing walk. Such have little strength of char- 
acter — there is the stiff, unlevel walk of the plod- 
der — there is the soft-foot, sinuous walk, such 
scheme and pry and flatter — and there is the 
long, free, efficient, not-tliinking-of-self walk. 
She sees a goal and she means to get there by 
practical, diligent means. 



80 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

Twice Baked Bread 

Twice-baked bread is slow to mildew, gives no 
flatulence, builds solid teeth, is not soggy in pud- 
ding and has a nutty flavor. Dry, ill-shaped 
loaves sliced, or broken bread in the oven, in thin 
pieces until all is deep yellow and brittle ; pound 
in canvas bag and use to bread chops. 



TUB TABLOIDS 

Use a soap that grips. 

Salsoda in boiler rots clothes. 

Rub bar soap into corrugations of board. 

Light weight bedding and underwear only. 

Gasoline is said to soften hard flannel. 

Hang wool blankets, dripping, in the breeze. 

A rubber pocket bib on children at meals. 

Widen sweaters when damp, to wear longer. 

Reinforce buttons and strings before tubbing. 

Tie two flannels over neck of bluing bottle. 

A willow basket is a dusttrap — use a tub. 

Confine several small laces or rags on a safety 
pin. 

Pin shirts and dresses three-cornered on two 
wires.' 

Have a metal machine and tubs with a flame 
under. 

Soap ink stains in sweet milk a half hour — 
then tub. 

Scrub a carpet on the grass with suds — then 
use hose. 

Zephyr articles — if loose-meshed — are not dur- 
able nor easy to clean. 

81 



82 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

Women without plumbing, take tub and blue 
flame to creek or lake. 

Wash thrice a week, and avoid mildew, rain 
and overdoing. 

Sponge a shiny fabric with strong indigo 
bluing water — cover damp and press. 

Skin and lungs absorb the sickening turpen- 
tine — it's dangerous for expectant mothers. 

Boiled soap on a little brush, for stiff overalls 
and canvas. 

If your wet comforter weighs thirty pounds, 
lean a ladder against the wall and put it over this 
to drip — hang later. 

Reverse and whip on a post a boy's pockets — 
else they are foul, and he puts eatables into them. 



KITCHEN CAPSULES 

Rub salt on stained cups. 

Grind horseradish in the wind. 

Salted egg white beats quickly. 

Charcoal, on floor of potato bin. 

Thaw frosted apples in the dark. 

Bottle mustard is extremely binding. 

A revolving steel in the kitchen. 

Whey for the chickens — do not waste it. 

Invert an electric iron for cooking. 

Boil and eat the curled fern tops. 

Hot fat ruins the temper of knives. 

Clear a fire for toasting with salt. 

Burn peels in base burner in the winter. 

Boil lye in a burned pot to clean. 

Potato water cleans silver forks. 

Apples instead of tomatoes for catsup. 

Bury meat in charcoal to keep sweet. 

Milk soaking for dried walnuts. 

Cup of water in oven for even baking. 

A dash of cold water to settle coffee. 

Green tomatoes for an uncommon pie. 

Lift fat from hot soup with blotting paper. 

Charred paper and rags clog the range. 

A lantern in root closet on cold nights. 

83 



84 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

Slice onions under a running faucet. 

Tacks, soda and water to clean bottles. 

Mix cornstarch in the salt to prevent lumping. 

Use a spatula for many kitchen purposes. 

A rat costs you seven dollars a year, at least. 

Cabbage, onions and rice water for soup. 

Extinguish flaming fat with a cover. 



POTS 

Sandpaper to polish. 

Copper has poisoned faniihes. 

A seamed pot is never cheap. 

Avoid curving snouts. 

Wide bottoms for quick heating. 

A copper teakettle takes much polishing. 

A white interior shows up every sj)eck. 

Vinegar boiling for a tainted pot. 

Boil lye in a burned pot — empty and chill. 

Grease new tins and heat to make non-rusting. 

No metal on the place rusts quicker than a tin 
lid. 

Screw knobs to enameled plates for nonrusting 
lids. 

Lye boiling followed by vinegar boiling for a 
badly burned pot. 

A cast skillet holds heat evenly and does not 
bulge. 

Buy no deep heavy cast iron pots unless you 
are training for an athletic career. 

Heavy black tin is durable, and slow to rust — 
cheap tin is satisfactory only for the oven where 
it gets black-coated and cannot rust. 

Heat cast iron gem pans on the stove while the 

85 



86 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

batter is mixing — thus it bakes before even 
touching the oven. Have muffins feather light, 
in fifteen minutes on a cold morning. 

To save potM'ashing use the new paper baking 
bags; or put serving bowls into a steam cooker? 

Wipe and serve. 

A busy mill girl cooked over one burner — she 
puts stews, soups and veletables into white quart 
cups, cooked several in a single pot with no burn- 
ing, wiped and sensed. The food poured with- 
out spooning, cups hold heat and draw little dust 
or flies and she saved stove space and fuel. 



DONTS FOR THE KITCHEN 

1. Don't wash meats more than is absolutely 
necessary, especially game and fowl, because it 
has a tendency to destroy the natural savor or 
sweetness. 

2. Don't throw out fat after frying or boiling- 
pork or bacon, but keep until there is a quart or 
more, then simmer over slow fire till the fat ceases 
to bubble. Turn off the clear fat from the sedi- 
ment. The fat makes excellent shortening. 

3. Don't put cheese, muskmelons, onions or 
other pungent articles in the refrigerator as the 
odor will taint the milk, butter and other foods. 

4. Don't forget to have the oven, whether fire 
or gas, at proper heat before putting in meat or 
pastry. 

5. Don't have a hot oven for simple milk pud- 
dings or the milk will curdle. 

6. Don't forget fresh meat should be put in 
boiling water; salt meat into cold water. 

7. Don't forget good frying is boiling in fat 
instead of water, therefore the boiling fat must 
cover the food that is fried. 

8. Don't slam the oven door when baking 

87 



88 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

cakes or pastry or the cold air will spoil or make 
them heavy. 

9. Don't forget in boiling meat that it must 
not be allowed to boil. In boiling vegetables do 
not let the boiling stop. 

10. Don't put salmon to boil with cold water; 
always have the water hot, because it retains the 
color of the fish. 

11. Don't guess the quantity of anything; 
ahvays weigh or measure. Accuracy is important 
in the kitchen. 

12. Don't open the oven door w^hile pastry is 
baking until it has been in at least seven minutes 
to set. 

13. Don't forget that a dirty oven is liable to 
spoil the flavor of anything cooked in it. 

14. Don't cover the heads of asparagus when 
boiling. Tie firmly, stand them upright, only 
place water up to the green part. 

15. Don't let soup boil, only simmer; the ex- 
cellence of the soup largely depends upon this. 

16. Don't boil potatoes too quickly, or they 
will be soft outside and hard inside. 

17. Don't butter cake tins; warm them and 
then rub with a piece of beeswax, which gives a 
nice glazed appearance to cakes. 

18. Don't make custard w^ithout scalding the 
milk, which should be poured hot on the eggs. 



THE KITCHEN 89 

19. Don't serve greens or onions until they 
have been boiled in two waters at least. 

20. Don't boil eggs; put into boiling water, 
cover with lid, remove from fire for five minutes. 
The eggs will be thoroughly cooked, light and 
digestible. 

21. Don't boil clear soup ; let simmer. Boiling 
clouds it. 

22. Don't boil milk, which loses virtue at boil- 
ing point ; scald by placing vessel containing milk 
into a pan of boiling water until it creams. 

23. Don't cook milk puddings quickly. 

24. Don't fry anything unless the fat is boil- 
ing, because it makes the food heavy or sodden. 

25. Don't put sauce pans away "soiled" after 
using them; wash well with boiling water, and 
dry with a clean cloth. 

26. Don't leave the lid of the sauce pan on 
when boiling cabbage ; it spoils the color. 

27. Don't allow articles of food or other 
things to accumulate; when cooking, clear up as 
you go. 

28. Don't wash omelet-pan after using; rub 
with a dust of hot dry salt and soft paper. 

29. Don't put vegetable, scrubbing or other 
brushes on backs, but always keep with the bris- 
tles down. 

30. Don't throw away sour milk; it will make 



90 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

sweet light bread, griddle-cakes, tea-cakes, and 
pastry. 

31. Don't waste cold vegetables; fritters, 
purees and salads can be excellently made from 
them. 

32., Don't grill a steak on dull, smoky fire; a 
sufficient quantity of dry salt thrown on will 
clear it. 

33. Don't put pastry into slow oven; the fat 
will melt out and the pastry will be hard. 

34. Don't leave food to get cold in the vessel 
in which it has been cooked, unless of earthen- 
ware. 

35. Don't keep canned provisions in the cans 
after being opened; the air renders them un- 
Avholesome. 

36. Don't throw away burnt frying-fat; boil 
the fat, put in a raw^ carrot, the burnt taste will 
disappear. 

37. Don't buy in driblets; purchase in bulk 
whenever possible, especially staples, such as 
sugars, spices, coffees, teas and seasonings of 
various kinds. A store-room built in one corner 
of the kitchen or near bv, will be found valuable 
for keeping these and other household supplies. 
The things needed for the day should be weighed 
or measured in the morning for the cook, and the 
door should then be locked, Potatoes and turnips 



THE KITCHEN 91 

should be kept in a temperature not cold enough 
to freeze them or warm enough to cause them to 
sprout. 

"Man, as a rule, is an impatient creature, espe- 
cially when returning home after a day of work 
and worry. If the meal is not quite ready, don't 
make excuses, but commence at once to set the 
table, leaving the impression that the meal is near- 
ly ready. In the meantime hand him a newspaper 
or suggest some other pleasant pastime. His at- 
tention having been diverted, the meal, for the 
time being, will be forgotten until it is ready. 
This, of course, is a little deception, but it will 
work nine times out of ten, if shrewdly managed, 
and it is decidedly better than 'roasting him' or 
keeping him 'in a pickle.' A husband properly 
'cooked' is really dehcious." 



PRACTICAL COOKING RECIPES 



JUST BEFORE MEALS 

The last month before the new crops come in, 
is a difficult month for the meal planner. Canned 
goods are watery and expensive. People call 
with one voice for "garden sass" where little can 
be had. The blood is thick, and at no season is 
sour food or green sprouts more enjoyed. 

Put sprigs of mint into iced tea. 

Dig some of last year's parsnips. 

Boil the early tips of ferns, and the shoots of 
dandelions. 

Try dock, lamb's quarter and plantain. While 
young and tender. Cut cabbage sprouts from 
the stub — they are delicate for salad. Boil the 
sour purslane — it's more welcome on the dinner 
plate than in the garden rows. 

Try milkweed sprouts as a substitute for 
asparagus. 

Before the snow leaves, put set onions into a 
tub of very rich soil — tilt to the south and cover 
nights. 

Pickle the withered crabapples with vinegar, 
sugar and cloves. 

Pickle stringy old beets and carrots with curry 
sugar and vinegar. 

95 



96 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

Have parsley and rhubarb in a cold frame and 
under tree leaves — these warm but do not 
smother. 

Boiled radish leaves are very tender; cut the 
outer leaves of lettuce without disturbing the 
root ; pea pods may be eaten half mature, if they 
grow in a foggy Northern clime. 



BREAD 

Many women make coarse-grained bread for 
a quarter of a century and call it good because it 
is not heavy or sour. Good bread should dis- 
play long slender bubbles, as the loaves are torn 
apart — a square cavity means coarse bread. 

Salt in sponge checks fermentation — sugar, 
too. The latter makes alcohol, which passes off 
with heat, but spoils texture of crumb. Add 
these to solid dough, only. 

After many years of bread disappointments, 
the writer finds that — in cold climes — a thrice 
mixed potato sponge is best. Mix a dry yeast 
cake, flour and water, and keep in summer heat, 
on the second morning cook and mash two large 
potatoes and stir again; mix solid dough on the 
third or fourth morning. Shorten process in warm 
climes. Your dough should bounce and squeak 
under your hands like a live thing; in the oven it 
should mount blithely skyward until only the top 
of oven stops it. Nothing avails after using poor 
sponge. Grocers for some reason often recom- 
mend poor flours. Confer with your neighbors. 

Handle solid dough three or four times, pull- 
ing it one way, especially in shaping the loaves — 

97 



08 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

to give slender bubble. Salt heavily for salt 
holds moisture, and delays drying out. Set cup 
of water in oven to even the heat. 

To "Varnish" loaves, swab them with vinegar 
when almost baked and return to oven — they will 
shine as if painted. 



NEVERFALL EGGLESS GIXGER- 
BREAD 

Most recipes produce a crumbly, rich loaf, 
tiring to stomach and expensive — often with 
heavy streaks. Have you had molasses loaves, 
repeatedly sink in the middle when unpanned ? 

Leave out part of grease and sugar, and add a 
little cornstarch — this w^ith or without eggs can 
be baked thin, never falls, or has heavy streaks 
and is velvety in texture. Lacking cornstarch, 
use a little farina. Grated lemon peel and spices 
for flavor — add fruit or nuts as desired. Mix 
all except soda and a bit of flour and let stand 
overnight — thus the acid tenders the flour and 
the soda ambitiously follows to the remotest 
corner, making myriad pores and leaving no 
heavy spots, the affinity of vinegar and soda is so 
great that not a speck of dough is neglected. A 
fresh molasses loaf is liked by all; and this one, 
being butterless and eggless, may be served 
often, displacing richer dishes. 

One-quarter cup cornstarch. 

One-quarter cup shortening. 

One-quarter cup sugar. 

One-half cup black molasses. 

99 



100 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

One-half cup vinegar. 

Two cups cold water. 

Salt. 

Flour for a soft pouring dough. 

One teaspoon soda with the last bit of flour. 

M M M 

Frozen Steamed Loaves 

Add a little cornstarch to all steamed breads 
and puddings, use little or no sugar or shorten- 
ing, encourage dough to cling to sides of pail, 
and do not let the water stop boiling — with these 
precautions your loaves are as light as the feath- 
ery snow. Being greaseless they are easily di- 
gested, and a store of fruited or spiced loaves 
may be frozen and heated weeks later. Have a 
special steambread day in the late fall, and make 
a quantity. 

Hot and Cold 

Scald tomatoes or peaches or cooking apples 
to skin or peel. 

Heat a rusty old pen to move — heat at neck to 
move a glass stopper. 

Hot eggs in cold water to shell easily. Scald 
butternuts to shell quickly. 

Dip fish or fowl into scalding water to dress. 

Try scalding and chilling a cocoanut. 



PRACTICAL COOKING RECIPES 101 

Money Venture 

Each of a score of home arts may be enlarged 
to a money venture — a trade secret or two may 
support a family. If need comes, can you hatch 
birds, weave rugs or make vinegar ? Cooking for 
hire pays better than office or mill work, when 
board, time in transit and all is considered. A 
girl is safer in this cruel world with two trades, 
and one may fitly be cooking. There is no dan- 
ger to life, the work continues the year around 
and people deaf, fat, stuttering, crippled, re- 
pellant, etc., may thus support themselves. 

Meat Economy 

Have the trimmings sent home. Internal 
organs give little w^aste. Cured pork digests 
better than fresh. Lamb's kidney is cheap and 
delicate. Add fish eggs to the fish filling. 

Wet meats — stews, chowders — go further than 
dry. 

Bread crumbs in hamburger steak to make 
tender. 

Hollow a cabbage head, fill with sausage and 
crumbs, tie and boil. 

A little vinegar and oil on a tough steak for 
two days — pound with a bottle and broil over a 
blue flame. Some "crust" a steak with a sprin- 
kle of sugar. Salt on plate, eat hot. 



JELL 

Use cane sugar only. 

Heat dry sugar in the oven. 

A dry fair day to boil jell. 

Many cooks mix several fruits. 

Stale gelatine is dangerous — it is a flesh 
product. 

The more pectin the easier fruit jells. 

Use fresh fruit a little under-ripe. 

Beware of buying stale rain-soaked berries. 

Add bits of lemon peel to increase pectin. 

Some add vinegar to a too sweet syrup. 

Use a bread white lined pot. 

Boil a cup or two at a time over a good fire. 

Some assist jelling with the outer skin of car- 
rot grated. 

Too little sugar, a tough, sour jell — too much, 
it will not stand alone — use three-fourths cup 
sugar to a cup of juice. 

Slices of lemon in a muddy syrup causes scum 
to rise. 

Use lemon and have it jell quick and clear as a 
jewel. 

For quick juice line colander with wet cheese 

102 



PRACTICAL COOKING RECIPES 103 

cloth, and set hot mashed fruit in oven to drip — 
heat keeps the juices flowing. 

Can juice airtight for late winter jell. 

Mix paraffine with hot jell — it rises and seals. 

Label glasses with kindergarten crayon. 

Dried apples jell but mildew easily. 

Add mint to this jell and color green or add 
rose flavor and color pink. 

For a cheap jell, apple trimmings and rhubarb 
or pineapple trimmings and dried apples. 

Currants need no stemming, reject leaves and 
rubbish. 

Elder jell tastes "weedsy," it's a tonic and 
beautiful as a gem. 



EGOLESS MARBLE ICING 

Most sugar icings grain coarse, and fall in 
lumps when handled, while an egg icing is costly 
and smears the inside of a picnic basket. A 
plain sugar icing needs clever manipulation, and 
by adding vinegar, cornstarch and glucose it can 
be made to stick. Chill bottom of hot syrup and 
stir, and you will be surprised by having granu- 
lated sugar grain as fine as powdered; indeed, 
powdered is not needed even for candies. 

This icing should be a household institution, it 
saves dollars yearly, keeps, does not smear, and 
is quickly made. 

Grained syrup will not spread, so use it liquid 
and half -grained — beginning to "milk." This 
color proves that it will cool like marble, and not 
sticky. Spread part of liquid on a cold loaf re- 
versed, giving attention to sides, rewarm the rest, 
crushing in a few drops of water with a silver 
fork, when well "milked" pour on the top of loaf 
and spread. The last always hardens while one 
is using the first. 

Scant cup sugar, tablespoon glucose, two 
tablespoons vinegar, one tablespoon cornstarch, 
water to mix — boil to soft ball stage. Set pan 
in cool water, stir and flavor — when it begins to 
"milk" spread part and rewarm the rest. 

104 



QUICK AXD CHEAP CANDY 

This recipe gives the children a simj)le, inex- 
pensive candy which you need not wipe off every 
door-knob and chair in the house. Triple the 
recipe and develop three kinds with cocoa for 
one, nuts for another, and maple flavor for a 
third. Drop candy warm from a teaspoon into 
a shiny paper dusted with cornstarch. Carries 
well in pocket or picnic basket. Use more 
glasses with mint, and have delicious soft mint 
wafers. 

M M M 



Do you cook for hearty outdoor men? Keep 
a store of mince pies frozen — sprinkle and 
quickly heat as needed. 

A good pie board was made from a broken 
plate glass window by smoothing the edges with 
a file dipped in camphorated turpentine. 

Scrub oven potatoes with white suds, then with 
weak vinegar to bleach — grease lightly — put cup 
of water in the oven for even baking. Roll in a 
towel when done, to "flour" the inside. 

Butter in winter spreads further, and tastes 
*'farmy" if crushed with warm milk and the fluid 
poured off. Warm rancid, strong butter with 

105 



106 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

water, chill and pour off water — repeat. This 
makes it edible. 

Rank or old bacon is tender and savory after 
soaking, sliced, skinned and scored in vinegar 
water. Slice a week's supply and be ready for 
rush meals. 

Busy people keep dry ingedients mixed for 
quick biscuit. A big milk pan turned over a 
blue flame, reflects heat from its bottom and 
browns them nicely. 

If you live high above sea in thin air, readjust 
recipe for cake. Use less fat and sugar and 
more eggs and flour. Also boil beans and dry 
foods long. 

Cook together water from boiled pumpkin and 
cane sugar, for a yellow syrup better than maple. 
Some collect sap from birch or butternut trees, 
and boil with cane sugar for a woodsy syrup like 
maple. 

Lemons contain oxygen — they are a wonder- 
ful fruit, and seem to clean everything touched 
by juice. Juice for tartar on teeth, for tarnish 
on metal, for spots in the laundry, for a black 
ring on neck, for clogged kidneys and to clear 
boiling jell. Keep skins on shelf for a body's 
grubby black hands. 

Soak lemons in hot water, roll under hand and 
get twice as much juice — grate peels for flavor, 



PRACTICAL COOKING RECIPES 107 

dry for kindling, or use to supply pectin to boil- 
ing jam. 

^ M M 

Cheaper Soup 

Buying separate ingredients triples the cost of 
tomato soup. To reduce cost heat a can of solid 
soup and add any vegetable water or stock on 
hand. 

Mince and Pumpkin Pie 

Package mincemeat is overspiced to keep — 
adding a bowl of left over rhubarb or peaches 
improves it — or add the last jam in a wooden 
pail. Citron in mince pie for a new taste. 

For each egg omitted in pumpkin pie use a 
teaspoonful of cornstarch — cheap and never 
''slushy." If pumpkin is scarce, add mashed 
carrots. Grated lemon peel improves this food. 

Pickles 

Pickles are attractive with a special color and 
spice for each — little white onions with white 
vinegar, carrots and curry, beets and cloves and 
for the glowing tomato save the glowing chili. 

Keeping Bread 

Bread quickly molds from floating spores in 
the air — boil container often. Buy no varnished 
breadbox with seam, a small wash boiler is better. 



108 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

Some tie two fresh loaves to be eaten last, in 
paper, and lay near ice. 

Cheap Conserve 

Carrots grow quickly anwhere, while apples 
are sometimes costly. For a cheap conserve in a 
cheap container try this: Parboil young 
chopped carrots and turn off the first water, and 
add an equal quantity of apples peeled with 
sugar and spice to taste. Cook all day in bean 
pots in the oven — it does not burn in fire clay — 
and seal with parafRne. Does not freeze and 
burst like the expensive glass. 

Economy Tricks 

A woman with boarders labored faithfully 
fourteen hours a day and was about to go into the 
hands of the sheriff when she began to apply a 
score or so of the ideas in this book. She soon 
paid all debts and began to prosper. 

While w^e carefully reject stale fish, eggs, or 
soup in the interest of health, there are many 
harmless economy tricks. Our motto, "Health 
and strength first, then save." 

Docks 

Is there any wild vegetable w^hich produces 
any greater mass of edible matter easily and 
quickly in spring than the dock? Have a row 



PRACTICAL COOKING RECIPES 109 

of dock in a remote corner of the place, and 
enjoy pot greens. 

Under Three Heads 

Think of work under three heads — that which 
must be done, do it early before your strength is 
gone; that which is highly desirable but which 
may be deferred in case of household alarms, as 
window cleaning and home baking, and fancy 
activities for style or amusement only — the last 
for those who have plenty of time and money. 

Burning Pie Juice 

Does pie juice burn and smoke in your oven? 
Press into the center of each pie a one-inch funnel 
of stiff paper holding a few breadcrumbs — these 
will lift the excess juice. 

To Crisp Rubbery Grains 

Entire wheat is cheap and nourishing, but rub- 
bery and rank tasting. Some use double as 
much yeast for a loaf. Corn products — farina 
and cornstarch — come crisp and fragrant from 
the oven and are valuable mixed with the wheat 
since corn crisps the texture of bread and modi- 
fies the strong flavor. Make whole wheat 
muffins or biscuits with one-fourth corn. 

Crumb Cake 

Soak heavy or stale crumbs in vinegar and 
water over night — the acid is penetrating and 



no THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

makes tender — in the morning squeeze through 
fingers, reinforce with egg, sour milk, flour and 
soda and have excellent crumb griddle cakes. 

Sugar 

Sugar is at war with whiskey — a man who 
likes one never like the other. This food gives 
quick restoration and urges the heartbeat. En- 
courage the eating of pure candy by men and 
boys who get pinched and blue with cold and 
fatigue — it may save them from something 

worse. 

^ ^ ^ 

Flavor ice cream with a melted peppermint 
stick. Enclose two quarter lemons in a rich fish 
before baking. Cloves and cloth over plum but- 
ter to retard molding. 

Crumbs in fr^^ng onions hold the juice which 
burns so readily. 

Cook pie crust and vinegar filling separate — 
fill cold. ]Make vinegar w4th the very sweet 
dregs from teacups. 

Boil pot on one side and bunch scum, for easy 
lifting. 

Invert glass jar tops in w^arm parafRne to seal 
securely. 

Broken head rice is as nourishing as whole, and 
cheaper. 



PRACTICAL COOKING RECIPES 111 

The delicious lamb's kidney to eke out a giblet 
pie. 

Use a long cast spoon to readjust your coal- 
fire. 

Bring linoleum up to the wall for a wainscot, 
and avoid a crack. 

Dig fingernails full of soap for gardening or 
stove cleaning. 

Glass of tri-colored jell for a Yule gift for an 
invalid. 

Lay a doughnut shaped biscuit on a common 
one for a patty shell. 

Smoked beef keeps moist, if submerged in 
black molasses. 

Rubber caps over faucets when dishwashing, 
to lessen breakage. 

Add acid after cooking lemon pie filling, and 
notice the difference. 

Put a metal handle on the cornpopper, and re- 
heat foods in the furnace. 

Keep fruit cake dough overnight, the fruit 
tenders and swells. 

Knife in warm fat before cutting cake, cheese 
or citron. 

A small new paint brush to grease tins. 

Spike tube cake-tins to the ground to feed 
poultry or pups. 



112 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

Chill bottom of scorched feed, turn into clean 
pot and continue cooking. 

Freshen mackerel skin side up in potato water, 
sour milk or whey. 

Dip animal crackers into pink icing, and adorn 
edge of party cake. 

Use tea leaves in sweeping, to fertilize a rose- 
bush, or to poultice a bruised eye. 



LEFTOVERS 

Since boiling kills organic poisons, a healthy 
family do not object to eating their own broken 
victuals, nicely remixed, seasoned, and browned. 
In a restaurant, scraps do not inspire one with 
confidence — since their biography is unknown. 
A prudent home manager orders fresh meat for 
one meal only; for the lesser meals she delights 
her family with an endless variety of deviled fish, 
cheese sandwiches, etc., from the icebox. These 
being boned, minced, flavored are often more 
savory than the original. For their construction 
it saves money in the end, to keep on hand salt 
pork, peameal, sage, chives, onions parsley, 
macaroni, curry and solid canned soups — not for- 
getting the always needed twice baked crumbs. 
Scrub and hack the feet of poultry, and add with 
neck and wingtips to stock. Xape of fishes neck 
for chowder. A bit of breakfast oats cooks to 
fluid, thickening, and gives a nutty taste to stews. 
Use sausage to stuff hollowed onion, cabbage or 
tomatoes since it has seasoning enough to flavor 
the holder. 

One clever mother on bakeday, filled some ten 
or twenty jell glasses with fruit and spiced the 

lis 



114 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

bits — mostly leftovers — and let her children for- 
age for themselves on her busy days. For these 
"surprise" glasses she gingered sweet pumpkin, 
she poured chow chow over a beet or a carrot, she 
added figs to a little mincemeat, or shelled corn 
beef, or poured syrup over popcorn and nuts. Of 
course she had the usual jell, marmalade and 
apple butter. 



VINEGAR 

Keep a big vinegar jug at your right hand in 
the kitchen, for this acid is a mighty magician. 

To clean lampwicks and burners — to clean a 
sour sponge. 

In plaster of paris it hardens tardily — it takes 
alkali from wool. 

To bleach market eggs, to clean smoked mica, 
to kill nits in heads. 

To tender a steak, to bleach a potato, to set a 
poached egg. 

To sweeten a fishpan or bedroom vessel, to rub 
out a garment scorch. 

Vinegar steam in the oven to tender a roast. 

Move paint on glass with it, or swab a stove 
for blacking. 

It bleaches boards, it gives coppery lights to 
gummy brown hair. 

It prevents graining of boiling sugar, it ten- 
ders a hard old ham. 

It makes boiling rice white and separate, it 
tenders kale and beet. 

It makes cottons and linens whiter, it plumps 
withered nuts. 

115 



116 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

Add to a too-sweet jell in the boiling, pickle 
mint in it for winter. 

Use it with molasses in place of som^ milk in 
cakes. 

Swab baking biscuit with it for a varnish. 

Spice and pickle a rich fish with it, make sauce 
for rich pudding. Enclose cheese in a vinegared 
cloth and a paper to keep long. 

Stew sliced cabbage dry in vinegar, then add 
cream and avoid curdling — ^no cooked cabbage is 
better. 

Tender oats or wheat in it before mixing 
wafers or brownbread. 

Fry old corky apples, and sprinkle with vine- 
gar. 

Vinegar and salt to clean brass — then olive oil 
for a durable shine. 

For a stiff creamy dressing, for lettuce and 
slaw add one tablespoon vinegar to ten of thick 
canned milk, two of sugar, and a pinch of salt, 
and beat hard in a deep, slender vessel. Add 
any seasoning liked. This is too stiff to pour. 



PRACTICAL COOKING RECIPES 

Boys at Work 

One mother almost despaired of teaching her 
boys industry, when she tried keeping them 
apart, and working with one child. She gave 
him berries to stem, a row to weed, a loaf of cake 
to mix, or a stack of rags to cut for a rug, while 
she worked beside him and they chatted happily. 
The result was almost magical — there was 
scarcely a grumble, and twice as much work was 
done. 

Making Recipes 

Hundreds of recipes appear in print and quite 
bew^ilder us with their clever variations and dis- 
guises; but when stripped to main parts they 
stand revealed as the old, old dishes of our grand- 
dames — with frills and a new name. Think of 
foods under a few^ heads, as shortened and un- 
shortened cakes, salads, soups, etc., and save 
vourself from distraction. 

Take the essential parts of a dish and add 
whatever frills are handy, as nuts, spices, gela- 
tine, cream, fruit for variation. A farm wife 
uses cream for all shortening, a grocer's wife 

117 



118 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

must use man}^ stale perishables and a busy 
woman wants quick results. A woman tied to a 
cook book is a woman fettered. 

Fat 

To reduce lard bills, collect tat from various 
sources, heat, add a little soua, and lift the scum 
repeatedly; strain into a clean vessel — it will be 
white and solid. Do not choke and weep when 
frying out fat but put a small covered saucepan 
into the fire, and close lid over it — all smell will 
suck up the pipe. Turn out hot fat in the wood- 
shed, and there is no trace of an odor in the 
rooms. Render little and often. 

Water boils bubbling, fat boils still. Fry 
when a blue smoke rises — sift in a little flour to 
lessen spattering, and keep the face awa}'- from 
hot fat. 

Save rancid fat to hurry the oven. When fuel 
is wet and the meal is late, pour rancid on the top 
of oven — have it roar loudy to brown the pie or 
biscuits. Quick and safer than kerosene. 



PRACTICAL COOKING RECIPES 

Grate a burned loaf. 

Chill metal, if cake adheres. 

Stale eggs and gelatine are dangerous. 

Cheap shortening in spice cakes. 

Fruit keeps better than nuts in a loaf. 

Bakers use pastry flour and few eggs. 

Always add soda dry with last of the flour. 

Sticky filling between, glossy icing on top. 

Put cornstarch with bread flour, or it's too 
gluey. 

Use a spoonful of cornstarch for each egg 
omitted — a partial substitute. 

Add cornstarch, to sponge cake, and it will 
not fall. 

A sound apple in the box, makes a cake keep 
longer. 

Standing dough overniglit, improves man}^ 
cakes and cookies. 

If you have no sour milk, use vinegar and 
black molasses. 

Grease and flour the tin bottom only — encour- 
age adherence at sides. 

A thick dough cracks and mounds — use thin- 

119 



120 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

ner containing cornstarch, that it may not fall 
easily. 

Cut up figs and prunes and candy in a lemon 
syrup, add to loaf. 

Thin-edged and crumbly cake slices are partly 
wasted. 

Do not lift cookies to pan, roll them on flat 
metal and lift trimmings only. 

Sprinkle sugar on cookies, before baking, to 
crisp them. 

Sealing up steam with icing in a hot loaf in- 
jures the texture. 

Thin warm icing runs little, if the loaf is well 
dusted with cornstarch. 



GARDEN AND YARD 



A TINY HORSELESS FARM 

Many farmers are land poor, paying taxes on 
and keeping up a big tract; while some people 
locate on a thirty-foot rural lot and find them- 
selves without either crops or city position. To 
live from a wee horseless farm — aside from a 
dairy or mail order project — locate near a marsh 
for geese and bees, or near water for vacation 
boarders; or near crossroads for motorists' tea 
room; or near a carline for easy marketing with 
crate and bag. 

One horseless grower packed candied fig to- 
matoes in lace-edged boxes — they sell like candy, 
and are very productive. 

One sold cider — honey and eggs too — crab- 
apples are easy to grow. 

One woman farmer had a route, selling eggs, 
grated horseradish, cottage cheese, and certain 
novelty catsups and pickles. 

One's specialty was honey and rhubarb for 
colds. 

One woman sent a boy to special buyers with 
hares, squabs, frogs, poultry and sucking pigs. 

One woman near a big lonely marsh sold down 

123 



124 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

pillows, honey and queen bees, and geese eggs 
for hatching. 

One with a self-supporting country home, 
offered soft drinks to Sunday motorists; but her 
gain came mostly from sidelines — eggs, freckle 
cream, souvenirs, blooded lapdogs and candied 
fruits in boxes. 

A waterside farmer rented tents on her lawn to 
vacationists and boarded them. Her boarders' 
season was strictly limited — after spring weeding 
and before the harvest. Her sideline was fishing 
tackle, skin lotions, post cards, and herb or blos- 
som pillows. 

It will be noticed that few of these had to 
struggle with license expense, commission wor- 
ries, or the hard task of hawking. They each 
raised much food for home use. 



YARDLORE 

A bit of rich ground the size of a blanket, will 
produce enough salads for a family all summer. 
The American backyard is one of our neglected 
resources; while we press cotton seed and melt 
lead pipe, why do we not farm our yards? A 
European farmer flattens and ties his fruit vines 
against wall or fence, and sets rhubarb between. 
His fruit trees ripen overhead, his salads on the 
ground, and his roots under. His paths stretch 
under trees, his cucumbers hang over the edge of 
a tub, and he even harvests mushrooms under the 
floors. His crops are overlapped, and he grows 
quick crops between the rows of slow ones, before 
they spread. Bugs nourish his layers, pigs eat 
his weeds and windfalls, his honey comes from 
wild blooms, and he collects snails, gooselivers, 
and mussels, for table delicacies. 

School children help after book hours ; kitchen 
slops manure his vines and trees ; and he tans his 
Qvm. goatskins and cowhides. JMembers of his 
family who are too deaf, fat, epileptic or crippled 
for a city payroll, help as they can about the 
crops. 

Wild vegetables are gathered in lanes or 

125 



126 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

meadows ; twigs or peat are burned for fuel ; and 
a flock of geese are herded at large by some one, 
very old or very young. 

Foreigners stand aghast at the insane waste- 
fulness of Americans. With Nature's horn of 
plenty poured into our lap, with vast idle tracts 
of land, we yet import feed from the four points 
of the compass. Let us try to produce more, as 
the European does. 

M M M 

Managements of Seedlings 

Agitation about fly hatching has made old 
manure hard to get and a mass of last winter's 
manure near the tender baby roots, heats danger- 
ously in dry weather, unless kept soaked. Take 
no chances with heating manure, but jab deep 
holes near each seedling, and fill again and again. 
Also an old gardener overlaps crops, since it's no 
harder to weed, water and stake three vegetables 
in a row than one ; the seeds with due regard for 
their size and tastes, and lifts perhaps, spinach in 
June, lettuce in July and parsnips in winter, all 
from the same row side by side. Also the old 
gardener seeds in a two-inch groove, so that the 
seed can better draw up moisture, and escape the 
beaks of birds. 



GARDEN AND YARD 127 

Rhubarb 

Grow rhubarb along a shady fence where few 
things thrive ; or in a large henyard — birds do not 
like it — or have it in a cold frame to be filled with 
tree leaves and manure for forcing. This crop 
makes marmalade better than berries, takes little 
attention, and yields often and much, even in far 
northern parts. It should be seen in the north, 
sloping yard; in the busy man's yard, in the 
tiniest and shadiest place, and in far northern 
latitudes. 

Portable Canvas 

A portable canvas house with a glass window 
is always in demand in one home. In winter it 
shelters forced rhubarb and the chicks — they do 
not eat this vegetable. In summer moved and 
sprayed, it's a child's wet day resort, and a sleep- 
ing room, and in fall it's moved to the forest for 
a hunter's lodge. 

Hens as a Bug Trap 

One woman feeds her hens full with culls and 
thinnings, then a little before sunset she lets them 
into the vegetable garden, where she follows them 
with a stick. They scan each row for bugs but 
are too fullfed to damage crops much. They 
reach bugs too high for the toads. 



128 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

Early Crops 

Early crops are profitable — there are several 
ways to hurry them : 

Inoculate soil with certain bacteria. 

Keep under red glass, or give red light. 

Use of anaesthetic, especially ether. 

Electric wires over plants in rich soil. 

Lengthen the day with electric lights, but 
avoid all night light. 

Absent Irrigation 

A tired woman who lifted all water from a 
thirty-foot well, had a syrup tin or keg buried 
between each two bushes or vines — the cork only 
exposed. With a funnel she poured in kitchen 
slops, and corked the vessel. The water dripped 
for days, from pinholes at the bottom, refreshing 
the thirsty plant with no waste — filled each by 
turn, leaving a funnel to mark the place. She 
had the only fragrance and gay tints, when the 
whole region was sunbaked and bare. 

Weeding 

] A worrisome big mixed garden, needs a man's 
muscle and a woman's petting. Hoeing a weed 
apart in wet weather, causes it to start a new 
plant from each undersoil joint. A crafty 
gardener hoes only in dry baking weather; but 
on wet da3"s works to more purpose by lifting 



GARDEN AND YARD 129 

small weeds, roots and all, into an old pail to be 
destroyed. Also lifting each wee root as one 
spades or seeds a new garden saves much trou- 
ble later. 

Borders not Beds 

Nature, the matchless gardener, never tortures 
plants into round or crescent beds. These make 
a yard look smaller, and unsleeping clover in- 
vades them, while romping dogs and children 
damage them. Plant soft-stemmed things along 
a" wall or fence. 

Toads 

Toads are bug and worm traps, which take no 
bait and never rust. Gather wild toads, give 
cool retreats under boards in corners — they feed 
in the evening when the birds are off shift. Their 
tongues are not sluggish, nor appetite dainty. 

Roofs Repeated 

Repeat the lines of your roof in well-hood, arch 
and hooded gate — the barn, too. Use every- 
where the same four-faced or wide eaved effect. 
Roofs rising from masses of foliage are pleasing, 
and several of the same give an opulent, planta- 
tion look to a small property. 

A Hoeless Spring 

One woman farms every spring with a large 
spoon and a sharp stick, rather than a hoe. With 



130 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

a stick she makes the crusted soil receptive to 
every drop of the fertilized water, which is so 
tiring to pump and carry; also she jabs a hole 
between the last two plants, and the eater goes 
no further. With the shining spoon she scrapes 
down weeds, buries manure, crushes worms, 
breaks the crust and resets seedlings more easily 
and safely than with a rusty, lumbering old hoe. 

A No Cost Pump 

Did you ever hear that every plant is a tireless 
pump, drawing up water and throwing off vapor 
to cool the air? Indeed a large tree lifts an 
almost incredible number of barrels of water 
daily. One man found a low, miry spot in the 
road near his rural home, here in drv season he 
dug a hole and filled it wuth broken bricks and 
dishes — planting beside it some young lilacs. 
These greedy bushes lifted the water that no one 
w^anted, and a dry beauty spot delighted the eye 
of every traveler afterwards. Set a crabapple 
tree beside a muddy spot in a country road and 
have a tireless pump, beauty, fragrance and eat- 
ables at little trouble. 



GARDEN AND YARD 

Choose slim evergreens, vines, everbears, and 
small plants for the tiny city garden. 

Test doubtful seed between blotting paper, in 
a wet saucer for a week. 

Attach small bottle to shrubs, have name of 
shrub inside and cork. 

Do not let little plants stop growing, they 
harden, and will fail to thrive. 

Have a stout, brown yard apron; in pocket 
carry twine, shears, trowel and gasoline. 

Wooden wall pockets in corner of shed or 
toilet — they have no corners to bruise one. 

Horse droppings above the soil burn seedings 
and draw bugs; under, they hold water like 
sponges, and gently warm. 

Plant near a south wall, in severe climes — it 
turns cold wind, it stores heat during the day, 
and gives it out at night. 

Flowers crowd up to large, flat stones; they 
store much heat and conserve moisture. 

Does a growing cabbage split? Run a knife 
down to sever some of feeding roots, and make it 
grow^ slower. 

Flour the ground near the henhouse, and the 
thief must leave his prints. 

131 



132 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

A gourd for a hand birdhouse, or a keg. Put 
a backless box near the window of quiet room, 
and watch bird housekeeping. Face all of these 
to the south. 

Have metal hens' nests, and set in fire with the 
filling — heat is the best disinfectant. Collect 
weeds and rubbish in metal and fire, also. 

Keep cutflowers in water overnight before 
shipping — the stems draw up a reserve. Some 
slit up the stem a half inch to assist this storing 
of water. Some enclose ends in a cut potato to 
ship. 

To frighten birds, some support long paper 
streamers on a string, just above the garden row; 
the breeze floats these enough to frighten birds. 

A sloping trench, filled with stones for slops — 
to not kill the prettj^ clean grass at the door. 
Bushes beside this trench, grew like Jack's bean- 
stalk. 

In winter develop lilac switches in cans of 
water in the house. The flower germ is there 
waiting for warmth to swell. 

To repel body insects and give quiet sleep, try 
bedding pigs and ducks in spicy herbs. JNIany 
grow wild and freely. 

Boil the wormy fish and feed to hens to make 
them lay. Shoot wild rabbits, if plentiful, and 



GARDEN AND YARD 133 

stick the carcasses on nails to induce jumping in 
the shut-in season. 

Rub tree trunks with beef hver in late fall, to 
disgust rabbits. They have delicate noses, and 
one good application is said to protect bark, 
through the hungry winter months. 

Large sunflowers have five merits — ^they grow 
in poor soil, are bee pasture and beanpole while 
living, and kindling and hen feed when mature. 
Omit something else if necessary, and have these 
good-natured giants. 

A tired farmwife grew her flowers in an old 
horse trough, raised three feet and between the 
door and the well. Hens disturbed it little, 
kitchen water refreshed it, and its w^eeding, 
caused no backache; while the shy pansies were 
high enough to be looked at. 

For seedlings, bake and sift soil. Some use a 
bottomless cardboard ring — for rank growers a 
sod reversed. 

One contriving woman had chicks in a portable 
canvas house, she also found dozens of jelly 
glasses empty on her shelves. She placed a 
seedling under each glass, braced manure around 
it with sticks, and placed canvas house over a few 
score plants, and the chicks were unable to harm 
them. The house was moved later, and the shock 
of transplanting was saved. 



FOR THE WOMAN WITH THE HOE 

Coal ashes on country roads. 

Red glass hastens vegetation. 

Gasoline to kill dandelions. 

Encourage snakes — they eat mice. 

Salt the garden paths to lessen dust. 

Move trees in the twilight on a cloudy day. 

Buy a bonemill and pay boys for bones. 

Mend a leaky tub to hold liquid manure. 

Earthworms help ; they tunnel and loosen soil. 

Suet in netting at the window, for winter birds. 

Eoosen rust, by soaking tools in sour milk 
whey. 

Vaseline on neck and hands, to prevent sun- 
burn. 

Kerosene lightly over neck and hands, to repel 
gnats. 

Tie little bells on cherry trees to scare off pil- 
fering birds. 

Put mothballs in runs and close — the moles 
will speed thence. 

Support rows of peavines, by stringing thick 
twine on two sides. 

Hang mothballs in little bags, on vines, to 
repel certain insects. 

134 



GARDEN AND YARD 135 

The smell of buried fish in the garden, draws 
the mother of maggots. 

Kill poultry at home, and use blood and 
ground bones on the soil. 

Has Nature anywhere a prettier color than the 
early rhubarb ? 

Ducks in the marsh, are Nature's check for the 
mosquito. 

Some like the garden tools to work the narrow 
rows of the posies. 

Plant shrubs and bulbs for fall and spring 
effects ; everyone has flowers in summer. 



FERTILIZER 

As this continent grows more densel}^ peopled 
the problem of soil enrichment becomes even 
more pressing. Our modern tendency to use 
gasoline vehicles instead of beasts does not help 
the soil. The dooryard farmer with hens, who 
carries out an endless supply of soot, slops, ashes, 
waste and brine, has w^ith hen droppings an envi- 
able sufficiency — especially if he grinds bones 
and turns under peavines. This question of soil 
restoring is one reason why the big farmer fails, 
and the tendency is toward tiny farms. 

Too much fertilizer may damage more than 
none; use little and often and w^atch results. 
Helpful bacteria near top of ground must be en- 
couraged, especially in new, sandy or sour land. 
Enrich "nastily" with bedroom slops, barnyard 
mire, kitchen waste and poultry blood — not for- 
getting hme on new soils. 

Use soot teat sparingly. 

Bury fishheads deep near bushes. 

Ground bones are excellent. 

Salt water is liked by some. 

Nitrate of soda is also good. 

Liquid manure is good for cucumbers. 

136 



GARDEN AND YARD 137 

Bits of glue near roots of choice plants. 

Give a plant a few drops of ammonia. 

Hog manure is richer than most. 

Hen droppings have much mineral. 

New sawdust or coal ashes are harmful. 

Wood ashes abound in mineral matter. 

Ashes from an airtight heater are as fine as 
flour. 

Try skim milk sparingly on a prize plant. 

Rusty nails and filings for trees and shrubs. 

Castor oil at the root sometimes revives a 
dying plant. 



BABY 



A STRANGER 

A new baby's head is out of shape, his brow, 
hair and complexion change, and the eyes often 
recolor completely. The nose tells nothing, and 
the teeth have not come. Nothing shows inborn 
traits except fingers and ears — a character reader 
might pause over these. Is it not profitless to 
talk of resemblances in a new baby? 

Since each child brings a unique personality 
from the herebefore, and influences the mother 
powerfully for months before and after birth, 
just here is a chance to get acquainted. Know- 
ing mothers often tell a child's sex and tempera- 
ment before it arrives — though in rare cases 
twins, a masculine girl, or a sissy boy, may lead 
to wrong conclusions. 

Have you motive temperament in the family? 
If the newcomer is motive, certain signs manifest 
— cramps in cords, liver trouble, emotional 
temper and desire for work, with impatience of 
control. The mental and vital are different, and 
many children are mixed. 

A girl usually is known by the mother's 
giggling or weeping, by finicky tastes, sometimes 

141 



142 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

by fearful dreams — interest in shopping, sewing 
and cooking. 

A boy gives foreword of his sex commonly by 
the mother's blocky figure and broad back, by 
her interest in the wild and adventurous, or sci- 
ence, by — sometimes — gross and brutal tastes 
and domestic laziness, by broad social leadings 
and desire to explore. Encourage any sudden 
novel and powerful interest in art, machinery, 
science or producing — perhaps a genius is com- 
ing to the world. Correct by opposite sugges- 
tion gross and criminal leadings. Much could 
be told us by the mothers of criminals on this 
point if they wished to talk. 



HELPS WITH THE BABY 

Boiled tovs are safer. 

Butter bumps on baby's head. 

Put four bright colors on a bright ball. 

Give boiled water daily. 

Face away from sunlight — it's trying. 

Allow no strings around ankle. 

Use no cheap bending safety pins. 

All white w^alls and clothes tire the eye. 

Quilted linen only for bibs — it bleaches well. 

For dry snuffles, oil the nose — apply hot 
flannel. 

Hook ties and rosettes to cap for easy chang- 
ing, and change daily. 

Shorten clothes at three months, kicking 
strengthens legs and corrects constipation. 

Suspend toys on wire over creeping pen, and 
slide along as needed. 

A feeble baby nearly smothers when silk ties 
get into mouth — use linen. 

Rinse napkins with weak vinegar in last water 
to lessen chafing — the acid removes biting soap. 

Turn baby often to avoid creases in flesh and 
flattening of skull. 

143 



144 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

Loose meshed coats of yarn launder badly and 
may dislocate thumb — use white serge. 

Start him with one year shirt and hose, he 
grows and they — alas — shrink. 

To bring teeth through, nail a thimble firmly 
on a stick and boil — let him bite this to grate 
away gum. 

Comforter Filling 

Cut old alpaca into strings, join and crochet. 
Cover with blue and white — fluffy, light and 
tubs well. 

For constipation, scald daily a graham cracker 
and feed soft to a child of three months or more 
— waste and scratching assist bowel action. 

Baby in Basket 

One baby travels in a padded, painted, market 
basket — it's easily screened from flies and light 
and cinders — the occupant's back is not strained 
nor its clothes mussed while corner pockets hold 
the feed. Two strap holders go around the 
basket, and if desired around the bearer's shoul- 
ders, too. Try this where you cannot use a cart. 

Bath Cabinet 

A ruffled basket is soon mussed and dusty, 
while there is much trotting daily to collect 
towels and clothes for the bath and draughts dur- 



BABY 145 

ing it. One father hinged together two cabinets, 
three feet high and painted. When spread out 
this screen disclosed towel rack, pincushion, rim- 
med shelf for brushes and soap and a deeper bin 
for shoes, bottles, etc. 

Dresses 

Soft gowns for three months — then shorten. 
Lap dresses well in closing and have neck large, 
and two tucks under each sleeve. All visible 
tucks are trimming, but a large one may be run 
on under side of hem, before closing it — w^ith 
long stitch to be opened later. Linen tubs snow 
white and dainty, but wrinkles badly. Purity 
adorns a baby more than ribbon or lace. Make 
near a score of crepe dresses and change tw^ice a 
day — it takes but a moment to rub, rinse and 
hang one. 

Firetrap 

Cut a strip of muslin, of woolen and of fuzzy 
cotton flannel and stick into fire — the last named 
burns much faster than the others. Scores of 
people especially babies and paralytics are 
burned to death yearly. A strong person in a 
garment confined by three front buttons is in lit- 
tle danger, but is it not cruel to put a large fuzzy 
firetrap on a child and close securely in the back 



146 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

with a dozen buttons? Mothers, you invite 
tragedy by dressing the weak in cotton flannel. 

Bowed Legs 

Ijegs always seem small and crooked for two 
or three years. If really bowed hold the leg 
firmly and stroke the outer side upward toward 
the heart — this reshapes bone and helps nutrition 
of muscle. Repeat daily — discourage early 
walking. 

Olive Oa 

Olive oil for chafing — it turns off the biting 
fluid; for this, powder is useless. Olive oil for 
scurf on head. Rub warm oil on a puny baby 
after the bath to assist growth. 

One mother made short tours with a toddler 
led by a toy harness and a baby in a gocart — both 
directed by one hand leaving the other free. 

Bootie Strings 

Cold feet increase colds or make baby restive. 
Sometimes he digs the bootie off one foot with 
the toe of the other repeatedly while his weary 
mother ties it tighter and tighter, stopping the 
blood and causing tickling. Make large booties 
of shrunken flannel, laced in front only, and sew 
one securely to each hose. 



BABY 147 

Three in One 

One father constructed a chair in two pieces — 
the uppers a toilet seat, the lower a table of same 
size. Thus baby had three adjustments — toilet 
chair alone, or on lower for high chair, or both on 
floor for an extensive table. 

Factory or gift caps are too small for many 
big squareheaded babies — and an elaborate ruch- 
ing cannot be tubbed, and is soon unpresentable. 
Put your best needlework on a large linen or 
wool cap, with tucks in the faceband. A three- 
inch flap may shade eyes, or be laid back to con- 
ceal tucks. 

Mind Unfolding 

Most baby mind activity is learning the quali- 
ties of matter, by tasting, ringing, throwing or 
feeling — adult antics increase nervousness and 
teach nothing. Do not poke, jolt or startle him; 
but line a pen with a blanket to ease bumps, give 
a boiled cup, a bell, blocks or a string of spools, 
face him from the sunshine and let the inward 
urge unfold his powers naturally. 



BOYS AND GIRLS 

Their Care and Education 



BRIGHT OR DULL? 

A child advances readily in school, as far as his 
brain work in past centuries has carried him; 
after this advance is increasingly hard — though 
inborn concentration and persistence may modify 
3^oung negroes, and primitives often seem as 
bright in the early grades as young Aryans, but 
they do not go far. There is little truancy or sul- 
len discouragement in early grades, but most 
children find ambition failing from the fifth to 
the eighth. One boy covers two grades in a year, 
more easily than another covers one grade in two 
years — and the second tries harder than the first. 
Let teacher and parent not pet and reward the 
first unduly — he is breaking plowed soil ; let them 
patiently encourage the second — he is plowing 
new and hard soil. Urge all — even savages — in 
school as far as they can readily go, and a little 
further to lengthen the groove. 

A child of coarse hair, pinched brow, and heavy 
base brain or crown, may be schooled young — he 
is strong but not bookish, he will dislike control 
and assert inborn tastes in his early teens. Do 
not embitter him by scolding or invidous com- 

151 



152 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

parisons, but praise, bribe and reason. Urge his 
poorest study by home work. 

A child of thin neck, narrow between the ears, 
fine haired, witli much brain in front top may be 
schooled later — he needs outdoor romping. 

Praise is the occult law of increase — praise 
struggling talents and virtues and watch them 
grow. We do not praise strong inborn traits — 
these cost no effort, and tactless laudation leads 
to egotism. 



TEACHING GIRLS 

The years between four and twelve, when the 
rote memory is good, and hfe is not harassed by 
a stack of high school books, is the high tide of 
domestic enthusiasm. It's usually the little girl 
who begs to crochet mats, and bake muffins. The 
child at her mother's side, a half a day wxekly, 
learns to mix cornstarch into the salt to prevent 
lumping, to bleach her hands witli tomato skin, 
to loosen a rusty screw by putting a hot poker 
to it, to clean wire cloth with kerosene and to 
widen knit sweaters in the drying. Hundreds 
of such shifts are easily written in the clay, and 
are retained in later years as though written in 
marble. When a child excels at any task, her in- 
terest and pride know no bounds, and the soil is 
ready for more seed. Let each mother pass on 
her best that the race may improve. 

Children work poorly alone and still w^orse in 
pairs ; but with a cheery adult, who will chat and 
praise, they forget time, and delve steadily, for 
the young cannot resist chumminess. Do not put 
a premium on sex, boys are usually idler than 
girls; nor on whining and shirking, for this way 
lies ever increasing trouble. Be just in assigning 

153 



154 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

tasks. Youngsters love one virtue above all 
others — they argue loud, often and long over it — 
justice. Few other virtues appeal to them. 

Daily chores should be done cheerfully with- 
out pay; but work caused b}^ some one's care- 
lessness, or love of ease, may fitly be recompensed 
with money. 



HUNCHES FOR MOTHERS 

Children are unruly on windy, muggy or hot 
days. A swing to cool peevish children in dog- 
days. Nails on the wall wound romping children 
— put hangers through spools. 

Have slow, cross or talkative ones dress alone, 
in a cool place. 

If a child dislikes milk, paste new every day a 
picture or message on the bottom of glass. 

If it dislikes bathing, provide wooden toys 
which it may handle only in the bath. 

Quince seed tea or watered white of egg to 
make curls durable — part and comb the same 
daily. 

Remove soiled and torn garments before chil- 
dren wake and save delay and contention. 

One nurse, when her patient slept, put a long 
feather through the keyhole. No one disturbed 
them. 

Stick pins into corks of poison bottles — this 
would save scores j^early, who take remedies 
hastily in the darkness. 

Some faults, such as noisy exuberance, fall 
away with time; some, like money greed, or 
pride, increase with age. Look to the latter class, 

155 



156 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

JNlaiiy people never feel at home with modern 
appliances unless they have used them in touch. 
Accustom )^our child to common electric helps — 
to bicycle, tyi)ewriter, kodak, etc. 

Did you ever know a child with big, brown 
freckles to have reserve, depth and dignity? 

The unknown delights children; did you ever 
see a kid v/ith a prize box ? One mother expedited 
chores and errands by laying out an alluring par- 
cel for each. Opened these disclose soap, shoe- 
strings, crayon, handkerchiefs, stationery, or por- 
tions of dates, nuts or sweets. A child worked 
eagerly with one eye on the enticing unknown. 



TO GET A GENERAL HEARING 

A healthy child is rarely quiet except when 
reading, sleeping or chewing. Little instruction 
can be given during the first two processes, but 
during the third, the parent gets an easy and gen- 
eral hearing — with several listeners at once. 

Elaborate serving is not so important as the 
mental atmosphere at meals. There are no idle 
w^ords where children are ; indeed, the unguarded 
comment coming straight from the living fires of 
the heart sinks home more surely than long and 
studied lecture. And the short speeches pene- 
trate the child's mind between other interests 
where the long do not. 

One alert mother made a point of brief and 
timely remarks while the children were at meals 
— she could not be sure of a general hearing at 
other times. 

"Too much mustard is an emetic." 
^'People with thin lips are orderly." 
"That loose axehead is dangerous." 
"As you deal mercy to dumb creatures so God 
deals with you." 

"A gentleman is slow to quarrel — he fights for 

157 



158 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

principle, not because some one called him names 
or jostled him." 

In twenty years hmidreds of such remarks 
dropped from her lips, constituting a liberal edu- 
cation. Often a child brought up a point for dis- 
cussion days later, showing how readily the soil 
receives the seed. Feed children's minds as well 
as their bodies at meals. 

Write a short, heavy correct letter and let a 
young child trace it on onion skin paper. Few 
activities are so educational as letter writing. 

It is almost impossible for an excited child to 
keep up its loud, tense voice if mother returns 
low, calm and moderate words — self-control, be- 
fore controlling others. 

Does your sleeping child rave, talk or walk 
when feverish? Strip do^^^l clothes and seat him 
in cool water — thus give quiet rest by drawing 
blood from brain, while the doctor finds the cause 
of fever. One baby had a bad night fever after 
a blow in the head with a stone — after two sitz 
baths no more trouble was noticed. 

Pay your children for beachAvood, wild foods, 
trapping rats, etc., have them buy their clothes. 
After a year or two they will care for belongings 
better. 

Fathers, did you ever administer epsom salts 
or castor oil to a fighting child, who raises the 



BOYS AND GIRLS 159 

echoes a block away? Soak Sultana raisins in oil 
or warm butter and give often for a gentle aper- 
ient — this goes do^\Ti without a riot. 

Boys who lingered out after their bed hour in 
one home were called tomcats and were required 
to sleep on the hard floor, so the delinquents, 
wrapped in a blanket, lay like night-roving cats 
on a plank. This cured the evil without words. 

One mother noticed noisy squabbles each hour 
of the day. She put her children on a bland diet 
— no spices or meat — she speedily set rioters to 
short tasks, standing between them until they 
started — she offered each child a dime daily, 
withholding a nickel for each squabble. After 
this the evil almost disappeared. 



CHARACTER IN FLESH AND BONE 

A narrow built child is intense; teach endur- 
ance and practical activity. 

Thick, loose lips are impulsive, generous and 
ruled by the flesh. 

The more character we hiing from the herebe- 
fore the more the brain swells in the front top. 

A thin Roman nose may shape from three to 
fifteen years ; it is fiery, bold and dominating, but 
not miserly. 

A snub nose for curiosity — like monkey and 
cat — imitation and wavering purpose. It is cheer- 
ful and teachable. 

Has your child a square jaw — not chin? He 
will voice immoderate praise or blame; will ha^e 
alert and sarcastic humor; he is likely to show 
ambition, decision, efiiciency and conscience; 
temj^er is formidable. He is a vicious traducer, 
and may be alcoholic some time. Teach moder- 
ation, compliance and to "judge not." 

Has your child a pug nose — straight bridge at 
an up angle — with perhaps a thin skin? He is 
likely to be envious, insolent, a heated slanderer, 
an eager and tireless critic, but aspiring and 
active. His life's j)ath will be lined with strife. 

160 



BOYS AND GIRLS 161 

Train him to work alone as farmer, fisherman, 
engineer, etc. Culture changes a pug nose even 
in mid life. 

The bright blue eye — past youth — is the scold- 
ing eye. It strains after the betterments of life 
for self and race and being disappointed; it 
scolds ceaselessly j^ear after year. Sometimes 
alcoholism, divorce or insanity is the sequence. 
We have known sober, law abiding men to scold 
for ten years — they had blue eyes. Teach blue 
eyes that God never blunders, that a soul sows 
and reaps a like harvest and broad justice rules 
the centuries. 



KIDDIES' SMALL ITEMS 

Little things bought repeatedly for children 
often total up to more than the main garments. 

For a belt, dye and oil a trunkstrap — attach a 
buckle. 

Visor caps are easily soiled and lost ; buy cheap 
and big to grip the head. 

Mohair braid for lacing shoes; dip ends in 
mucilage and twirl to stiffen. 

Children are too impatient to adjust and keep 
muffs, scarfs, wristlets and mufflers. Get big 
coats, high in storm collar, deep in pocket and 
long in sleeve; and dispense with small, loose 
items. 

There is much catarrh in flat-faced families; 
while the opposite type, the wedge-faced, has lit- 
tle nasal trouble. If j^our children are afflicted, 
keep tiny turkish towels at front and back door, 
to be used before leaving; also keep at head of 
bed. Thus the pocket handkerchief is not in an 
unpresentable state all the time. For school buy 
cheap handkerchiefs at dozen rates. 

For trouser and hose supporter fold strips of 
drill or galatea — secondhand will do — three thick 
and stitch endways. Have wide, the narrow 

162 



BOYS AND GIRLS 163 

chafe around arms. With strong interhnked 
shoulder loops, with elastic prongs and safety pins 
at each leg, with elastics and buttonholes front 
and back for trousers, and every joining stitched 
five or six times; the homemade article is com- 
fortable, durable and costs little. Nothing worn 
by children needs such constant repairs as sup- 
porters. ]\Iake at home in quantity and save two 
hundred per cent. 

Collars of Tag Ends 

Keep a score of collars on hand — it's a bother 
to launder one or two. Use linen thread in cro- 
cheting, and linen fabric to wear and bleach well. 
A woman collected in a large box bits of ruching, 
tucking, velvet, jet, tassels, braid, lace and wee 
pearl buttons. On the inside of the lid she pasted 
pictures of odd and new neckwear. Many unique 
and striking creations came from this box. 

No Cost Mitts 

Old knit goods wears surprisingly when quilted 
two and three thick. Stitch endways of hand 
with black on the outside ; quilt thumb three thick 
and shave a little on the palm side. Sew all seams 
twice and add a ribbed socktop to exclude snow 
— put silk veins on back, if wanted. These mitts 
look neat, tub well and wear better than factory 
articles. 



164 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

Gray for a rosy brunette; it looks well near a 
red cheek and shining dark hair. 

Colors and Skins 

A creamy white for a brunette. 

Wear a scarlet go\Mi among dull people on a 
dull day. 

Strong electric blue or green near a red face is 
startling. Deep dull red near flushed cheeks 
gives a creamy pure white to parts of face. 

Brown, unless almost black, is "diflicult" for 
most. It makes broad people look coarse and 
middle-aged. 

Dress a bricktop in deep green ; if freckled and 
slender, in brown. 

Even Wear 

It is extravagant to let garments wear through 
in one spot only. Double under body and arm 
part; seats of trousers, back yokes and stomach 
part of aprons. Boys' pockets get harder wear 
than a pig's nose — use denim. Set buttons and 
holes far from edge — taping under buttons in 
thin goods; and work holes with silk or linen 
thread. Do not use flimsy lining. 

Light and Dusk 

Sunshine is a powerful stimulant, while cloudy 
weather is soothing — we are told that crimes, sui- 



BOYS AND GIRLS 165 

cides and mistakes in figures occur largely on 
bright days. Pupils in school would be quieter 
if each could sit in the dusk with a single ray of 
light on his work. To lessen dogday peevishness 
enforce a midday rest in a deep chair in a quiet, 
dusky room. If the child cannot sleep, allow a 
book. Especially good for nervous or early-ris- 
ing cliildren. 

Sow and Reap 

We have all seen thin-lipped, self-righteous 
mothers who choose every morsel eaten and every 
thread worn, until trickery or hate show in the 
child. Wisdom is a slow growth, and from the 
inside — it comes from facing one's own choices 
and reaping one's own harvests — force avails lit- 
tle beyond the moment. Let the parent caution, 
then stand aside — let each child draw the experi- 
ence needed for his development. 

Low Cost Play Things 

Factory toys are mostly fragile and costly — 
and many mean nothing. Buy to encourage de- 
velopment — a ball to teach the eye and hand to 
gauge distances, a tea set for domestic tastes and 
something for the builder or artist. 

Attach bells to homemade reins. 

Beanbags, and a box with holes in the top. 

Blunt the ends of old scissors, for children. 



166 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

A cloth scrapbook may be laundered. 

Discourage slingshots, airguns and murder 
tackle. 

Glycerine in suds for strong bubbles — lacking 
a pipe blow through a spool. 

Flatten a dark windowshade to a padded wall 
and tackmark with colored crayon. Better than 
a shiny blackboard. 

If a soft sandpile in the shade fails to draw 
interest, bury in it some bright pennies, whistles, 
walnuts, etc. Mining is fascinating. 

Word Study 

No book advances wit, finances or reading so 
well as the dictionary. Neglect any study rather 
than spelling. One boy wrote badly and ex- 
pressed thought haltingly. His mother each 
evening wrote with ink and plainly, directions for 
next day's chores and errands, or a suggestion for 
his garden, or an idea to fill out a letter to a 
chum. Sometimes a rule of punctuation closed 
the epistle, and a spelling lesson taken from the 
enclosure appeared on the envelope. 

He first did the spelling, then read his letter, 
then did his chores, then ^vl'ote her a statement of 
things done — and perhaps comments. His chores 
were expedited, his school work improved and the 
tie between son and mother was close. 



BOYS AND GIRLS 167 

Broad Justice 

Mothers, be slow to side with a child in a dis- 
pute with teacher, kitchen maid or neighbor. 
Children tell part of the truth with the emphasis 
laid one way, and the opponent tells what's 
equally true, but with a different emphasis, it 
sounds quite another matter. Much of the 
world's strikes, wars and prejudices could be 
avoided if mothers would put aside soft-headed 
partiality and stand for hard justice — ^the justice 
which has no favorites. Judge slowly. Show the 
child two sides of it and praise noble traits 
wherever you find them. 



THE "WHY" OF SEX 



THE "WHY" OF SEX 

The theory of sex has been offered to the pub- 
lic before, but each observer approaches the sub- 
ject with different words, and from a different 
angle. A matter so important may well be thor- 
oughly discussed. 

Scientists observe the dual nature of force — 
the outgoing tide is scattering or positive, the in- 
coming is accumulative or negative; day and 
night ; the ticking of a clock and the winding one ; 
the shooting arrow and the drawn bow typify the 
positive or outthrowing, and the negative, or 
brooding gathering sides. It will be seen that the 
negative comes usually first, balances the positive 
and is equally important. In its human phase 
this law gives us some women, and most men, 
positive. If we collect and study one hundred 
positive minds in contrast to one hundred nega- 
tive, we find that the 2:)ositive is gross, just, 
genial, daring, shortlived, extravagant and sim- 
ple in tastes and immoderate in expressing life. 
The male and a few females, dare, reason out 
new ways, like the excitement of a fight, care lit- 
tle for color and elaborations for clothes and 

171 



172 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

home, are little bound by creed and fashion, but 
much by ridicule. 

JNIost women and a few men are negative — 
they as a class have more thrift, patience, neat- 
ness, imitation, concern for social and spiritual 
work and for safety, rules, art, literature, creed, 
caste, color harmony, and elaborations of clothes 
and home fittings. This negative is called weak, 
but is longer-lived, freer from abnormalities and 
less stung by ridicule than the positive. 

Garments worn bv men and women have each 
a peculiar smell ; sex differences of mind show at 
an early aoe; and even a story may usually be 
named as the product of an author or authoress. 

In humans we notice that these forces seek 
balance; for a very positive man feels drawn to 
a very negative woman; and all gifted men are 
said to have had uncommon mothers. These 
forces sometimes take odd channels, as a person 
may be positive on the material plane, and a 
timid follower on the spiritual. Some positive 
minds function on a high plane, helping the 
world, while some equally positive are vile, noisy 
saloon idlers — they each, high and low, create, 
think and give out ideas. Also let us note that 
they, too, are influenced by age, sickness, alcohol- 
ism, trouble, etc., but the subconscious mind re- 
mains ever the strongest factor. Indeed, this dual 



THE "WHY" OF SEX 178 

principle manifests in man}^ ways, high and low, 
in material, social and spiritual paths. It is older 
than the stars, and governs the turning of our 
jDlanet, since centrifugal and centripetal forces 
are a complete and readily seen illustration. 

Which kind are you? Do you delight in de- 
ductive arithmetic, do you explore on material or 
mental plane, do you give out ideas, or do you 
reverently cherish old inconvenient rules and 
creeds? Did you ever note that while woman is 
the churchgoer, creed founders are most always 
men? Do you give largely through affection, 
without being just for principle? 

A very positive mind builds in part or fully 
these signs : Square shoulders, jaw or chin, large 
convex nose, broad nostrils, straight eyebrows, 
large mouth and coarse hair. The nostril is a 
telling feature — a large class of women with nar- 
row nostrils seem verj^ negative. 



WHY HAVE I SONS ONLY? 

If parents total up more positive than nega- 
tive, the issue come most male, for like draws 
like in a thought-built universe. A girl in a 
houseful of boys is the result of some negative 
influence — style, sentiment elaboration — which 
swung the balance for a time. JNIany couples al- 
most balance, and their children, we notice, are 
girl and boy alternately. No one type of woman 
is the male bearer — let us note how this law works 
out. Mature mothers, not being so imitative as 
the young, have many sons — broad, domestic, 
easy-going women, not being narrow, conserva- 
tive, emotional, or fussy about details, have most- 
ly male issue — farmwives give the w^orld boys, 
because they must use resource and have little 
time for caste, art, style and elaborations — ^^many 
athletic women and those seeking public office 
have boy babies, their coarse hair, big noses and 
crown swelling heads are significant. Probably a 
larger proportion of males are born in times of 
w^ar, pestilence and famine, since then both par- 
ents are showing courage and resource. Manv 
gifted and world-famous men use feminine cen- 
ters of the brain, notably actors, poets and paint- 

174 



THE "WHY" OF SEX 175 

ers; such often have female issue unless over- 
weighed by the other parent, or by circumstances 
— on the contrary men of more moderate talent 
who use daring, resource and reason are found 
with a long succession of sons. It is to be noted 
that a woman grows stronger with age, she is the 
accumulating, increasing side of life; while a 
man's forces weaken and scatter in the afternoon 
of life — he is centrifugal. Thus a mother not too 
young, and a father not too old, for boys — a rude 
new country where things have not settled into 
grooves, and life is not too safe and easy, nor too 
artificial, and a simple home rather than an elab- 
orate, favors boys — but let us remember that the 
deep, stubborn subconscious is ever the strongest 
factor. Some women would have sons at any 
age, in any place, and with any occupation. 



WHY HAVE I DAUGHTERS ONLY? 

While the average girl is teachable, law-abid- 
ing and companionable, is devoted to the parents, 
in many parts of the globe she gets scant wel- 
come. Law and custom commonly favor the 
male — with small earnings and feeble muscles, 
she is at a civil, a marital, a financial and a phys- 
ical disadvantage, though her devotion, sweetness 
and industry may reconcile the parents. The 
fate of a nation has depended at times upon the 
coming of a male heir to the throne; Chinese 
widows without sons sometimes get no share of 
the estate; millions of parents have searched 
eagerly for the law of sex. 

If parents total up more negative than posi- 
tive, the issue is mostty females. Snub-nosed and 
pudding cheeked mothers, being imitative with- 
out organizing power and courage, have many 
daughters — savages of this type marry young 
and have four or five running. It is not probable 
that plural marriage increases the female birth 
rate, except as it unites very j'oung and negative 
mothers to old fathers. Another girl-bearing 
type is a light weight woman with narrow, color- 
less face, thin and small moutli and nose, and 

176 



THE "WHY" OF SEX 177 

round forehead; such we see surrounded by 
three, four and even five daughters. Her con- 
servative, thrifty, cool and industrious nature 
swings the balance strongly, be the other parent 
what he may. 

Girls are born largely to the city, to conditions 
of caste, creed, luxury and all the elaborations of 
life, to old fathers and young mothers, to safety 
normal parents and settled home conditions, and 
to emotional people — not forgetting that the 
stubborn deep subconscious is ever the strongest 
factor. Some women in their thirties are so very 
negative that they have daughters in a log cabin 
home on the frontier, and amid the alarms of war. 



FASTING FOR RHEUMATISM 



FASTING FOR RHEUMATISM 

Rheumatism, the nuisance of the centuries, is 
an obstinate guest to dislodge — it hides only to 
leap into action again and again. Fevers kill or 
cure, and leave the body burnt clean, in after re- 
covery; but rheumatism is always in our midst, 
crippling people of ripened powers in the after- 
noon of life. Fasting, while it gives an ashy skin 
and weakness for a few days, cleans the system 
so thoroughly that one seems to be reborn after- 
ward. Yet the ashy coating inside the mouth 
and other parts, the clogged kidneys and the 
thumping of heart so alarm fasters, as to scare 
off thousands who are earnestly seeking health. 
Can we ease these alarming symptoms ? Yes, by 
sipping hot salt water to keep the veins plumped, 
and by free sweating, mainly also a cool daily 
spray helps. Sweatmg helps the overw^orked 
kidneys — the skin is the strongest of five or six 
sewers and is not easily overworked. 

Probably one-half the people have no long tub 
in which to he — and are not near, or have not the 
price for, turkish baths. A box cabinet used at 
home is big to handle and slow of results, since it 

181 



182 THE WOxMAN'S MANUAL 

holds much air. For quic4i:, cheap steam baths at 
home try this : Place lampstove or electric heater 
in a millbox — boil here a tin of lyewater. Make 
eaves over edge of box with many newspapers 
and lay board on these. Sit here enclosed to the 
neck in rubber sheet — or three large canvas 
sheets. Clouds of steam start perspiration in ten 
to twenty minutes. Continue here for thirty 
minutes after a free start. Faintness is pre- 
vented by ventilating room and by sipping hot 
salt water before steaming. Spray body, or pour 
cool w^ater down spine and dress. The pink, 
puffy skin after steaming disappears — it is a sign 
that much fermenting matter is trying to escape. 
Do not fear taking cold after free sweating in a 
hot bath; the Japanese have parboiled themselves 
for centuries and they are almost free of catarrh. 
It is the warm — not hot bath — w^hich makes one 
delicate. 

Fasting is a unique experience — if you want 
to get a new viewpoint, leave behind fevered wor- 
ries and hates and loosen the clutch of certain 
chronic ailments, abstain from all food except hot 
salt water for ten or twelve days, though some 
fast for weeks, with benefit, fleshly, mental and 
spiritual improvement follow. Of w^hat avail for 
man to harness lightning, or discover the South 
Pole, if he cannot rule his aching, waste laden 



FASTING FOR RHEUMATISM 183 

body? This is perhaps the most important of 
earthly tests. 

Few on this planet have begun so man}^ short 
fasts as the writer — and four fasts were long. 
The landmarks on this ancient road have long 
since grown familiar. Except failing strength, 
the first day, and one ferocious fit of hunger, fol- 
lowing which the twenty-four foot digestive tract 
becomes dormant and probably ash-coated — it 
may be roused at any time safely by taking sim- 
ple solids, following a day or two on milk. Ex- 
pect good sleep, "real" dreams, cool emotions, 
untiring brain action, but neither mind nor 
muscle can "grip down" to a hard task. The nor- 
mal faster can walk five hours a day over smooth 
pavement, but can scarcely lift, sweep, dig, etc.; 
neither can one easily add a column, or cut out a 
garment. The lips are pale, heart slow and one 
feels lightheaded as floating cloud. Cold water, 
sweets and solids are disliked after a day or two 
— and the last may be dangerous if taken sud- 
denly without preparation. 

The blood tends to dry out until the heart flaps 
about like a fish out of water on the fourth and 
fifth day. To lessen pounding and gasping, and 
plump out the veins, sip hot salt water upon 
rising and several times during the day ; also this 
makes free sweating possible and corrects many 



18A THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

evils. The writer finds that taking salt prevents 
the hair from falling in a short fast. A little salt, 
sugar or milk may be taken without rousing the 
whole tract since these get no further than the 
stomach. A spoonful of sugar, while disliked, as 
it is a break in the fast, gives one strength enough 
to rub out a pressing wash, or do a couple of 
hours' work. This stimulant gives force to the 
heartbeat. 

In the second week the blood spurred by spray 
baths, and steaming, goes to a new place for res- 
toration — the deposits under the skin; and the 
strength comes partly back. Here is the secret 
of the refreshed feeling following a showerbath. 
About the tenth day the knees show a desire to 
double, but the brain is cool, active and harping 
always on details — indeed, this minute thinking 
is one feature of fasting. 

Sip lemon juice in hot water for clogged kid- 
neys — the whole interior is ash-lined — take this 
acid with caution, too much rouses a forty-horse- 
power appetite. 

Before starting a fast, do up all hea^y muscle 
work and shopping, writing letters, etc. A cof- 
fee drinker should let down blood pressure by de- 
grees — taking oranges only for twenty-four 
hours before fast starts is one way — make a date 
on the calendar, take a laxative and begin. Walk- 



FASTING FOR RHEUMATISM 185 

ing, light housework, reading and bathing pass 
the days — they seem long. Summer or late 
spring are good times for this experience, since 
the roads are good, one's courage is high, there is 
little chill, and Nature helps the cleaning process. 
After the fast is carefully broken — an abrupt 
break is dangerous — the skin plumps and clears, 
the eyes shine, and one feels an insatiable desire 
for work. The body has lost a pound a day on 
the average — though some of this may quickly 
return when eating is resumed. All puffing, stiff- 
ness, rheumatism and melancholy are left behind, 
and long-standing ailments disappear. The body 
is pliant, eager for action and one does almost 
double the usual amount of work. Many of dif- 
ferent races and centuries have spoken of the 
vivid and fantastic dreams which follow fast 
breaking. The waking hours are "vivid," too, 
and one enjoys even the meanest tasks. Chronic 
chair warmers should fast, it would restore thou- 
sands of producers to a needy world. 



MISCELLANEOUS 

Medicine From the Garden 

Foods That Build Up and Warm 

Care of the Body 

Overlapping Tasks 

Past Thirty-Five 

Pets 

In the Wild 

Buying Stores 

Meeting Reverses 

The Might of Non-Resistance 

Sewing 

The Fireless Cooker 



MEDICINE FROM THE GARDEN 

Beasts are doctored by fasting in winter, and 
eating herbs at other seasons — fresh air and 
activity do the rest. Can humans with their huge 
drug bills and elaborate appliances make as good 
a showing? Nature sends along medicine at the 
needed time ; and even gives the needer a craving 
for it. 

Apricots clear the voice. 

Eat celery for the nerves. 

Raw cabbage for the kidneys. 

Onions and lettuce induce sleep. 

Dandelion is a tonic for the liver. 

Bag of hot hops on an aching jaw. 

Pineapples cut the diphtheria fungus in the 
throat. 

Poultice a foul sore with a warm roast onion. 

Swallow lemon juice to cut the gluey deposit 
in whooping cough — quieter sleep follows. 

The early shoots and buds of spring have lifted 
minerals from the soil, in a form available for 
human use. 

Onions urge hair growth, loosen an aching cold 
and cause children to expel worms, 

189 



190 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

Lemons clear the skin, unclog the hver and 
kidneys and sharpen the brain. 

Lay on hot, bruised cabbage leaves for tooth- 
ache, or cramps in the abdomen, and lie quietly. 

Parsley is said to be a female regulator. 

Buttermilk and nothing else reduces fat. Ex- 
ternally it's a skin bleach — strawberries are a bet- 
ter and pleasanter bleach. 

Apples yield phosphorus for the brain, cleanse 
the mouth, quiet the nerves and gently urge three 
sewers. Give children raw apples for dessert, 
and sa^^e both time and health. 



TO BUILD AND TO WARM 

According to free government bulletin, the 
best builders are Cheddar cheese, dried peas, and 
beans, peanuts, codfish, oats, entire wheat, gra- 
ham and macaroni. Most of these yield more for 
the money than meat. Eat, on a cold morning, 
two plates of w^ell cooked oats, and notice how 
satisfied you feel for a few cents' outla}^ If there 
is to be an expensive company meal, have the 
family promise to eat beans or codfish for a day 
or two to even up. Skim milk contains more 
building feed for the cost than cheap beef — near- 
ly twice as much. Add to cereals and chowders, 
or clabber, and eat with a dash of nutmeg. JMilk 
corrects foulness in the body, while meat in- 
creases it. 

Get free bulletin bearing upon mussels as a 
table food. 

Scientists recommend guinea pigs for food — 
they are not swine and are easy to breed in a 
small yard. Peanuts are a concentrated nourish- 
ment — add to pudding, soup, fudge and grains. 

If nuts are dry and stale, bake in a hollowed 
apple with crumbs, and mild vinegar, and sugar. 
Keep peameal handy to thicken stews. Turn off 

191 



192 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

two waters from beans, tender with a few drops 
of vinegar and flavor with a can of tomato soup. 
Beans need more parboiHng and seasoning than 
most vegetables. 

Among the best heaters are butter, bacon, cer- 
tain cheeses, raisins, cocoanut, corn and oats. 

Use vinegar soaked bacon, when the butter 
runs out. Also fill a hollowed apple, or tomato, 
with leftover bacon, cut fine and crumb and bake 
for luncheon. Seeded raisins are Nature's candy 
— they are solid nourishment, and digest quite 
easily. Few cheap, heaters are so welcome as 
porouSj velvety gingerbread. 



CARE OF THE BODY 

Sway in a swing to dry hair. 

Turpentine on fresh cuts. 

Turpentine, often, on warts and corns. 

Put kerosene on chilblains. 

White-soled hose rest and cool feet. 

Juliets for the feet of people of poor vision and 
stiff fingers. 

Remove an intruder from the eye with rolled 
blotting paper. 

Rub old tartar on the teeth with lemon juice, 
then with soda. 

Have a workgown, in one piece, front closed, 
with elastic at wrist. 

Ammonia for insect bites — when many bites 
itch, take a steam bath. 

If a tack or sharp glass is swallowed, follow it 
with little balls of cotton, well buttered — these 
enfold intruder and carry out of body. 

For ringworm, try rubbing in strawberry or 
tobacco juice, before sending for iodine. 

For hiccoughs pack lungs with air, and swallow 
nine times before breathing — this gives dia- 
phragm no room to jerk up. 

A mouth rinse of baking soda and water re- 

193 



194 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

peated often lessens tooth decay in an expectant 
mother. 

Travelers and boarders cannot always get the 
coarse bread and fruit they need for constipa- 
tion — let them eat a few flaxseed daily. 

Rub inside heel with wet soap for tight shoes — 
wear in morning before feet spread with fatigue. 
Expand thick leather by immersing lower part in 
hot water — oil, too, helps to mold shoes to feet. 

Sip hot salt water, when breaking the tea or 
coffee habit — it helps to keep uj) blood pressure 
and relaxes the begging stomach. 



OVERLAPPING TASKS 

A young looking woman of forty overlaps 
duties. "Advance two or three projects at once 
— unless very exacting work — or housework is 
never done," she says. 

When a heavy wash, or needle day impends, 
the children carry a lunch to the fields, and get 
herbs or berries — two things done at once, and 
done well. 

She carries ashes to the fruit trees, looks for 
hawks over the henvard, arbitrates a child's dis- 
pute, and fills her pan with dooryard litter for 
fuel — four things. 

On the evening before late Sunday rising, she 
bathes, treats tan, corns, and blemishes, washes 
hair in tub, rinses it and writes letters beside the 
fire while it dries. 

She bends over the washtub while a backw^ard 
boy reads aloud and a loaf of gingerbread bakes. 
Thus the towels are cleaned, the oven takes but a 
few glances, and the boy guesses his words upon 
spelling them — oral reading prevents shirking. 
Thus three things are done perfectly, in the time 
of one. 

She savs : "I have seen mv mother, who raised 

195 



196 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

seven children, feed the baby in nature's way, rest 
in a deep armchair, read a magazine folded dou- 
ble, and — whisper it low — sometimes soak her 
aching feet. This was the only daytime rest or 
reading she ever got." 

Europeans knit, and hear the news, at market. 
One woman thinks visiting is time well spent — 
she makes lace while at friends' houses, agitates 
for better roads and schools, gets ideas on domes- 
tic problems, and trades bulbs, shrubs and seeds. 



PAST THIRTY-FIVE 

Our granddames in villages and farms called 
themselves old at the mid-thirties — often losing 
most of their interest in life, and presenting to 
the gaze dull eyes, stiff, fat, or drooping figures. 
Thinking old age hastens it. 

Yet the brain is built in three stories, and life 
after pubertj^ plainly proceeds in three wide 
overlapping waves. In the first two decades we 
imitate, and think of family and material inter- 
ests — in the second there are self-made intellec- 
tual gains — and the closing decades bring, except 
in savages and crude whites, tolerance, broad and 
cosmopolitan thinking, occult and spiritual inter- 
ests, and often money luck. These waves do not 
stop short, but go on with diminishing volume be- 
yond their decades. 

While men's centrifugal forces rapidly scatter 
in the afternoon, a woman's representing the cen- 
tripetal side of life concentrates, and gi'ows rap- 
idly stronger in character. 

She is in full flower physically at forty, and 
stronger than he. Women who breed and die 
are vegetables. There are some forty-odd cen- 
ters in the brain for development — and in the aft- 

197 



198 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

ernoon of life the trend is toward the top story 
of the head. Let the woman here leave the young 
to their imitating, restlessness and family cares, 
while she turns to grander, broader things — to 
occult inquiry, to beauty expression, to public 
spirited work, to the tolerance and peace, which 
are the benediction of life's latter part and to the 
inexplicable money luck, which overtakes many 
only in the evening. 



PETS 

Cats 

Cats come in contact with foul sewer rats ; they 
spread mange and ringworm; they roughen new 
clothes with their claws; they give brassy mid- 
night duets ; they shed hair on caressing children, 
and they travel at night to homes of infectious ill- 
ness. Everything from a cat's body is singularly 
foul; let a tomcat back to the wall twice a 
day only, and soon there is a tenacious smell, hard 
to locate and remove. Cats are suspected of kill- 
ing feeble babies, they are noisy when hungry, 
they show w^ird activity in a house of death, and 
twenty centuries have not lessened their bird-kill- 
ing guile. Here are many counts against the cat. 
Why keep cats? 

Dogs 

The dog, loyal, unselfish, and gay, deserves his 
keep; either as guard, shepherd, retriever, pla}^- 
mate, detective or harnessworker. In the warm, 
hair-shedding days, take a beast weekly to the 
yard, and brush with a stiff scrub brush, and fol- 
low with insect powder. Thus there are no rolls 
of germy hair in the house. 

199 



200 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

Birds 

Set the top cage into the family bathtub, for 
the morning dip, thus the bird's sprajdng trou- 
bles no one. Give a caged bird a variety of 
greens — he may crave certain ones for medicine. 
Sow birdseed in flower pots, in winter, for tender 
greens. 

One cat was cured of his murderous interest in 
the canary by having his nose shoved onto the 
cage, which was empty and hot. 



FEELING 

What is the greatest weakener; old age, fear, 
alcoholism, flesh appetites or love of ease? One 
of the commonest is feeling — every day emotion 
— there is always the reaction. The child of the 
worst tantrum is the easiest to mold; just w^ait 
for the reaction. Our flattering friends turn into 
abusive foes ; and a hot fire soon burns out. Love 
your flatterers and they soon become your own- 
ers, often to your hurt. We once knew a woman, 
old and weak, who backed her little and big 
projects by a quiet, deep will — no emotion — and 
won success, where strong young people failed. 
The world is full of crime, brain ailments, preju- 
dice, narrow^ed opportunity, suicide and unwise 
leadership; because of emotion — good and bad. 
Above feeling there is the eternal plane of prin- 
ciple — overhanging and calm. Live here and let 
your foes, friends and agitators work out their 
nerve-racking problems — they are sure to join 
you some time. 

How shall we know a master ? When insulted, 
does he cringe? He is weak. Does he flash the 
eye and return scurrilous words? He is still 
weaker. Does he lift an unruffled brow; think- 

201 



202 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

ing not of himself, but pitying his insulter ? Ah, 
here is the true master. At some time he was 
smelted by fire, and his ore is pure. Never feel 
acquainted with a man until you observe him 
under insult. A new race is rising to rule the 
earth, rising by units everywhere, to rule. Power 
is retained by these, who live for principle, not 
feeling? Are you a master? 



IN THE WILD 

A certain mother takes her brood to the wild 
once or twice a year for fun and gain. They re- 
turn laden with greens for the pot, berries for 
jell, or failing these, sand for the canary, moss 
and petals for a pillow, leaf mold for a clay 
flower bed, toads for bugtraps and living shrubs 
for botany specimens. 

While vegetables sell, stale and dear, in the 
city markets, plenty of cress, plantain, purslane 
and dandelion and a score of others grow, fresh 
and tender, in the lanes and fields — they delight 
only the stray cows. 

Wear in the wild, a knit coat — it gives to every 
move — a felt hat, securely pinned — this gives to 
the bushes, protects the hair from twigs, and the 
head from rain and shine. Wear low heels in the 
forest, for a turned ankle is painful. 

Boys learn science and grow resourceful and 
manly from camping. Dress a camper in wool 
underwear, give him kerosene to rej^el insects 
from his skin, and teach him to spot poison herbs, 
and to use wild vegetables — carrying only con- 
densed feeds. One boy learned to mix his baking 
powder, flour and water in the hollowed top of 

203 



204 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

the flour still in the bag. This dough he roasted 
in spirals on a leaning twig — bacon also — and 
avoided dishwashing. With ashcakes of meal, 
planked fish and baked potatoes, few dishes are 
needed. 

One yardless woman planted rhubarb under a 
brushheap, by a distant creek. Here her chil- 
dren came on bicycles to unpack a picnic basket 
lunch and refill basket with no cost rhubarb. 



THREE TYPES OF WOMEN 

Merchants recognize three types of women 
buyers; the extravagant, the pinching and the 
good manager. The first named, may or may not 
be industrious ; she buys without judgment, while 
her toihng husband gives — almost his heart's 
blood to get the children raised and educated. 
Like the free and shiftless negro, she has loose 
lips, broad nostrils, and neither chin nor ear is 
sharp-edged. A covetous, pinching woman may 
refuse to turn garments, or spade up a salad bed. 
She sits often at ease, and squeezes the nickels 
from others; the butcher must give her free cat 
meat, the maid must have no evening; light and 
the carfare and tobacco funds are reduced. Spot 
her by the cold eye, the pinched nostril and the 
lips, undimpled, uncurving and not moist. 

Between these is the good manager, always a 
resourceful and patient worker. She scrapes 
soupbones and foots hose, that the children may 
have a porcelain bath, or music lessons. She stops 
leaks in order to get luxuries. Spot her by the 
quiet, appraising eye, the lips flattened by will 
and thought, and the nostril neither swollen nor 
pinched. Money greed dwarfs the soul, but do 

205 



206 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

we help the world by wasting values, or ill-choos- 
ing them? Millions in Asia neve*i* get enough to 
eat and wear. Which kind are you, a grasping, 
hard woman; a reckless, free spender; or a care- 
ful manager? 



BUYING STORES 

No chance to save is so constantly with us, as 
feed choosing, and feed managing. There is no 
economy in buying long keepers in small quan- 
tity — nor is it safe to get too hungry ; keep plain 
staples cooked tastily, and variously, on the 
shelves, else your family speed to the market and 
commit some extravagance — a hungry man does 
not deliberate. 

Packers spend huge sums in educating the 
public in the merits of feeds ; this expense finally 
comes out of consumer and should be taught by 
text books. Fortunately the most nourishing 
things are the very common groceries — a man 
keeps strong indefinitely on boiled grain, sugar, 
a bit of cheese and a fresh apple or carrot daily. 
Make storeroom rat proof, and buy in quantity, 
at the cheap season. 

Do not be attracted by fancy packages — they 
are not edible — but easy spoilers — they are ex- 
pensive to handle — by condiments — they do not 
build — by ever advertised things — the eater pays 
— by elaborate mixtures — they are hard to digest 
— by short crop feeds and feeds with much water 
or waste — unless very cheap. There is much 

207 



208 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

water in eggs, potatoes, and canned vegetables. 
Millions in China and India never taste cow's 
milk or eggs. 

Men and children in these rushing days need 
much food, but they are not strengthened by ber- 
ries, picked green, by crumbs wasted, by em- 
balmed sausages, or by gay card board boxes. 



THE FURNACE 

A furnace is a dirty, exacting and expensive 
tyrant. We have still among us a few old- 
fashioned folk, who are not ashamed to live in a 
cottage, warmed by an air-tight heater; which 
burns all rubbish and gives ashes fine as flour for 
the garden ; with registers in the ceiling to scatter 
heat at will ; and an oil heater to carry about, and 
to set under the table at mealtime. The former 
keeps air moving — did you ever watch tobacco 
smoke flow into an air-tight stove? And it's 
easy to clean inside and out. The latter may be 
turned low for drying clothes. The fuel box 
may look like a five-foot window seat, and be 
filled from the yard. 

Stoves draw best in bright weather, and high 
above sea level. If a stove smokes when first lit, 
burn a kerosene paper at bottom of pipe to start 
the up-current. A continuous drizzle from the 
sky checks the up-movement in certain climes. 
For such places, have few turns in the pipe, keep 
clean, and have no cap over top of vent, as 
charred fragments float off better without. 
Hurry fire with pitch, tar paper, bacon rinds, old 
rubbers, oilcloth and baked wood. Soak lumps 

209 



210 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

of coal and get more heat; though they start 
slowly. Burn ash siftings with w^ood to prevent 
packing. 

One woman fills old cans with the dust coal, 
which falls so readily through the grate; and 
burns two or three at once in a base burner — a 
woodfire will not consume them. These get red 
through, throw much heat and disappear in a day 
or two, thus saving yard rubbish, and wasting or 
packing of fine coal. 



MEETING REVERSES 

A young couple met reverses, and moved to a 
remote and new settlement. Being accustomed 
to elegance, the wife puzzled over the fitting up 
of her barnlike rooms. She covered the studding 
walls with floor oilcloth, reversed ; paneled it, and 
stenciled an oakleaf design near the ceiling. She 
made a portiere of acorns for the door, and a like 
drapery for the top of the wide window. A 
stone churn held cattails, or gay boughs. She 
placed hickory furniture about, and exposed two 
fine goatskins — home tanned. Beside the brown 
of wall and floor, other woodland tints showed 
in hassock, lamp-shade and cushion. 

The husband, becoming interested, made an 
aquarium, stuffed some native birds, and made an 
outdoor windowbox, which was soon spilling over 
with greenery. Meanwhile the w4fe took from 
the depths of a trunk a print of a woodland 
scene. This she framed, and with a shell door 
stopper added to her sylvan room. After a few 
trials, she put together an Eolian harp, which 
offered woodland appeal to the ear. This young 
couple are now collecting stones for a fireplace. 

Visitors exclaim joyfully over this restful and 

211 



212 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

distinctive furnishing, suggesting the native flora 
and fauna. Consider a sylvan effect, before 
paying a staggering price for furnishings, which 
show scratches and fall apart. 



THE MIGHT OF NON-RESISTANCE 

There is one argument so powerful that the 
wisest of men conquered the earth with it, while 
babes use it, and live more safely than others in 
strife and danger — the bushes use it to the wind, 
when giant trees are uprooted. 

The sea sand safely offers it to the waves, 
where rocks are ground to powder. It is non- 
resistance. 

When among abusive, domineering people, say 
little, and say it mildly. Much evil corrects 
itself, and often the best way to check people is 
to stand aside. They cool and even see their 
error when the reaction comes. Perhaps telep- 
athy does it. Is not the quiet sunlight, tide or 
gravitation more powerful than the blustering 
wind or fire? 

One wise little mother of three said notliing 
when a child stormed or sulked or shirked, but 
the next day when a box of candy was opened or 
Aunt stopped to take them in her car, this child 
was told that of course he could not share in the 
treat. It is surprising how little she said to her 
noisey, wilful youngsters, but the lesson sunk 
home each time, and as the years sped by the 

21S 



214 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

cliildren learned that effect follows cause by law, 
and the lesson was unf retted by revenge or bit- 
terness. 

How many people have you known who can 
be moderate, silent or thoughtful, when others 
are the opposite? True soul culture is based 
upon this fundamental, non-resistance. 



SEWING 

A needy woman once canvassed all day, walk- 
ing miles — she cleared a dollar and a half. Reach- 
ing home with skirt muddy and shoes split, she 
found her neighbor sweeping up after a day's 
sewing. A big raincoat had been reshaped into 
a stout and sightly garment for a child — a cape 
over each arm — six pairs of hose had been footed 
and heel-capped ; and a pretty triple wall-pocket 
was formed of canvas, covered with cretonne, and 
edged with leather. Three dollars' worth re- 
claimed at a cost of three nickels for thread — 
and no split shoes nor muddy skirt. The can- 
vasser spent a thoughtful evening, and early next 
day she was seen oiling her sewing machine. 

TsTew garments made at home often cost more 
than factory articles; sewing for hire is under- 
paid ; but there is one form of needlework which 
saves a resourceful woman from two to five dol- 
lars a day — the remodeling of woolen pieces, the 
retrimming of hats, the turning and contriving 
with odds and ends. No branch of house work 
takes more patience or ingenuity, and few pay 
more. Office and mill women spend some twenty 
to forty minutes, daily, getting to and from work 

215 



216 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

and they rarely save or earn this much. Careful 
families, dressed partly from the piecetrunk, may 
look neater than others who buy new things at 
crowded sales — ^things which "look like wool" 
and "almost fit." 



A SCRUBBING MACHINE ON LEGS 

We have all known the thin-haired, narrow- 
built blond with strained unrestful eyes, who 
wiped and dusted and scrubbed all the livelong 
day; whose neighbors were filthy; whose family 
fled to the street or saloon for comfort; who 
painted chairs only to scrub them bare; and 
always praised herself ad nauseum. Such are 
found in every town. 

Our God made skulls plainly indicate that 
each adult is expected to be a voter, mate, friend, 
observer, idealist, worsliiper, beauty seeker, a 
parent and a worker. Can a woman round out 
and develop if she is a scrubbing machine only? 
Reasonable cleanliness is needed especially about 
tables, flies, dishrags, towels and infants' bottles 
— frequent bathing brightens the mind; but the 
world is reeking with germs and infectious mat- 
ter — infectious for the most part when we are 
weak and fearful or have bad blood. The rem- 
edy is self-evident, have clean blood and do not 
be fearful. 

Our families, before entering the scrubbed 
rooms in the evening spend time with books, 
coins, door knobs, etc., which are germy. In- 

217 



218 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

deed, a healthy person may carry formidable 
germs in the mouth — but has vitality to resist 
their increase. 

The mother and housewife supplies — if not too 
tired — most of the ethical, spiritual and social 
uplift of the home. Did you ever know a very 
clean woman to be a cheery, broad-thinking com- 
panion, sought by her grown children? Let us 
with a due sense of proportion take time to de- 
velop various sides of life. 

^ M M 

Unsalaried Cottage Keeper 

Does any one realize how much the unsal- 
aried housekeeper is worth yearly to her family? 
Aside from ethical, social and child-training in- 
terest, she works more hours daily than a man — 
she studies food values, gardens, repairs, utensils 
and fabrics, and corrects bodily ailments, besides 
the regular routine. The labor market is flooded 
with women who earn almost less than they can 
live upon — and they spend twenty to fifty min- 
utes twice a day walking or riding to office or 
mill. Our cottage worker saves and produces 
hundreds of dollars yearly — choosing, repairing 
and conserving values, and she does not waste 
much time starting or ending her day. She can 



MISCELLANEOUS 219 

at any time expand some home industry into a 
money venture. Consider shoe leather, neg- 
lected home, and the wastes of hurried shopping 
before seeking a mill or office position. 

Too Sleepy 

Many baggy cheeked and flat faced people 
find themselves sleeping from ten to fourteen 
hours a day — while narrow built, intense people 
fail to rest enough. This sodden, fat and stupid 
habit grows on one — it is self -aggravating. One 
excellent worker failed to get good positions be- 
cause she could not jar loose from her mattress 
at an early hour. Lemon juice is a brain rouser 
and makes one restless — hunger also. To cor- 
rect sodden sleepiness, eat little or no supper, 
take juice of two lemons. Repeat daily. Thus 
life quivers from every finger tip, and you rise 
blithe as a bird at five o'clock. And by the way 
— a bird's diet is largely fruit acid. 



THE FIRELESS COOKER 

Do not use the cooker until you have read and 
thoroughly understand the directions and explan- 
ations as to the length of time the food prepared 
is supposed to boil both over the fire and in the 
cooker. 

You must have the contents of the kettle or 
anything you desire to cook at the boiling point, 
or allow to remain over the fire according to the 
instructions. 

In cooking or preparing any food you wish to 
cook in the Fireless Cooker, always consult the 
recipes and directions in this book, which you will 
find under their proper headings. 

The cover must be placed on the kettle of the 
cooker while the food is boiling to obtain the best 
results, and be sure that the cover is securely 
down when kettle is placed in the cooker, which 
must be instantly after removing from the fire. 

To obtain best results with a small portion of 
any food, which does not fill the kettle of the 
cooker, put the food in a smaller vessel, and place 
inside of the larger kettle, after which pour boil- 
ing water into kettle around the smaller vessel; 
in this same manner, also, you can cook several 

220 



MISCELLANEOUS 221 

kinds of food at the same time by using smaller 
vessels and placing them inside of the larger one, 
in which event the larger vessel should always 
contain boiling water. 

Soups 

Chicken Soup — Place chicken in kettle and add 
six cups of cold water, a few celery leaves and two 
teaspoonsful salt. Boil slowly for 20 minutes, 
place in cooker for 8 hours. Allow chicken to 
almost cool in liquor ; it may be used for salad or 
croquettes. Allow soup to cool and remove fat 
before serving. 

Baked Bean Soup — Use 2 cups baked beans, 4 
cups water, 4 teaspoonsful tomato juice, 1 slice 
onion, 1 stalk celery, 2 tablespoonsful flour, sea- 
soning. Add a quart of water to cold beans, also 
slice of onion, stalk of celery chopped fine and a 
fourth of a cup of tomato juice. Mix well and 
boil for 5 minutes, place in cooker for 2 hours. 
Rub through sieve and add flour mixed with a 
little water, add seasoning and heat to boiling 
point, stirring constantly. 

Lentil Soup — Take 1 cup lentils, 1 onion, 1 
stalk celery, 1 small carrot, 2 teaspoonsful salt, 
4 cups soup stock, 4 tablespoonsful flour, 2 table- 
spoonsful of water, 2 tablespoonsful butter. Soak 
lentils over night, drain and add water to cover, 



«22 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

add onion, celery and carrot which have been cut 
into small pieces. Boil 15 minutes and place in 
the cooker 8 hours. Rub through sieve and add 
salt, pepper, butter and soup stock, make smooth 
paste of flour and water and add to soup. Heat, 
stirring until it thickens. 

Cream Lentil Soup — Cream lentil soup is 
made like the above except that 1 quart of milk 
is added instead of soup stock, and the amount 
of butter may be increased. 

Bean Soup — Take 1 cup navy beans, 2 quarts 
water, 1 small onion, 2 stalks celery, 1 tablespoon- 
ful salt, ^ teaspoonful pepper, 2 tablespoonsful 
butter. Soak beans over night, drain and add 2 
quarts of cold water. Add chopped celery and 
onion, also salt and pepper. Boil slowly for 15 
minutes. Place in cooker for 8 hours. Rub 
through sieve, add butter and sen^e. 

Macaroni Soup — Use 1 cupful macaroni, 6 
cupsful soup stock, seasoning. Break macaroni 
into small pieces and drop into boiling soup stock, 
allow to simmer 10 minutes, and place in cooker 
2 hours. Season to taste. 

Split Pea Soup — Take 1 cupful split peas, 1 
quart water, 1/2 slice onion, I/2 teaspoonful celery 
salt, 2 teaspoonsful salt, 3 tablespoonsful butter, 
2 tablespoonsful flour, 2 cups milk. Soak peas 
over night, drain and add 1 quart of cold water. 



MISCELLANEOUS 228 

Add salt, onion and celery salt. Boil for 10 min- 
utes and place in cooker 8 hours. Rub through 
sieve, add butter and flour rubbed together, stir- 
ring until it thickens. Add milk and serve. 

Dried Green Pea Soup — Made by the same 
method as Split Pea Soup. 

Mutton and Veal Soup — Use 1 lb. mutton, 1 
lb. veal, 2 quarts water, 1 small onion, 1 small 
carrot, stalk celery, 1 tablespoonful salt, ^ tea- 
spoonful pepper, 2 tablespoonsful rice. Remove 
fat from mutton and cut into inch pieces. Cut 
veal into inch cubes and brown in frying pan with 
a Httle butter or fat. Place meat in kettle and 
cover with cold water, allow to stand 1 hour and 
add vegetables cut into small pieces. Heat to 
boiling point, add rice and seasoning, boil 15 min- 
utes and place in cooker all day. Strain and serve 
hot. The meat and vegetables may be used with 
potatoes for hash. 

Pearl Soup — Take 14 cupful pearl tapioca, 2 
cupfuls cold water, 1 quart soup stock, seasoning. 
Soap tapioca in cold water 1 hour. Drain. Add 
it to boiling hot soup stock. Simmer slowly 5 
minutes, place in cooker 2 hours, season and serve 
hot. 

Browned Soup Stock — Use 4 lbs. soup meat 
and bone, 1 onion, 1 tablespoonful salt, 14 ^^^~ 
spoonful pepper, 214 quarts water, 1 carrot, % 



224 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

bay leaf, 1 turnip, 1 stalk celery. Wipe meat and 
cut into inch cubes. Brown about one-third of 
meat in frying pan with a little of the suet and 
onion. Place bones and remaining meat in kettle, 
add 2 quarts of cold water and allow to stand 1 
hour. Add 2 cups of water to meat in frying 
pan; allow to boil a minute and add to kettle. 
Add seasoning and diced carrot and turnips. 
Bring to boiling point and allow to simmer 10 
minutes, place in cooker 8 hours, cool and skim 
fat from top before using. 

White Soup Stock — Take 4 lbs. knuckle of 
veal, 1 onion, small bay leaf, 2 teaspoonsful salt, 
1 stalk celery, 6 pepper corns, 8 cups water. 
Wipe meat and cut in small pieces. Have bone 
cracked and place meat and bone in kettle, add 
seasoning and onion and celery cut into small 
pieces. Add water and allow to stand an hour. 
Boil slowly 30 minutes and place in cooker 8 
hours. Pour soup through several thicknesses of 
cheese cloth and it will be very clear. 

Tomato Soup — Take 1 can tomatoes, 2 cloves, 
1 teaspoonful salt, 1 small onion, 2 cupfuls water, 
small bay leaf, sprinkle cayenne, 1 carrot, 1 quart 
soup stock. Add water to tomatoes. Slice carrot 
and slice onion ; add these and the seasoning. Boil 
8 minutes and place in cooker for 2 hours. Strain, 
add soup stock, reheat and serve. 



MISCELLANEOUS 225 

Vegetable Soup — Use 2 cupsful brown soup 
stock, 2 cupsful tomato juice, 1 cupful carrots, 1 
cupful turnips, % cupful celery, 1 cupful peas, 
1 onion, 1 cupful diced potatoes, seasoning. To 
the soup stock and tomato juice add the carrots, 
turnips, onions and celery which has been cut into 
small slices. Boil slowdy for 10 minutes and then 
place in cooker for 4 hours. Remove from cooker 
and add diced potatoes, peas and seasoning. Boil 
for 5 minutes and return to cooker for an hour 
longer. 

Lima Bean Puree — Take 1 cupful beans, 2 
cupsful water, slice onion, stalk celery, 1 tea- 
spoonful salt, sprinkle pepper, 2 tablespoonsful 
butter. Soak beans over night. Drain, add fresh 
water and a pinch of soda. Boil 15 minutes, add 
onion and celery cut into small pieces and place 
in cooker over night. Rub through sieve, add 
butter, salt and pepper and serve hot. 

Dried Pea Puree — Clean peas, cover with wa- 
ter and allow to soak over night. Drain and cover 
with fresh water. Add a small onion and bay leaf 
and allow to boil 10 minutes. Place in cooker for 
6 hours, rub peas through sieve, add salt, pepper 
and butter to taste. Serve hot. 

Lentil Puree — Soak lentils in cold water over 
night. Drain and cover with cold water, add a 
small onion and carrot, boil slowly 15 minutes 



226 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

and place in cooker for 8 hours. Rub through a 
fine sieve and add salt, pepper and butter to 
taste ; if the butter is browned slightly it will im- 
prove the flavor of the puree. When finished the 
puree should be a little thinner than mashed po- 
tatoes. If too thin, thicken by adding a little 
flour and water, made into a thin paste. Boil for 
a few minutes, stirring constantly so that it will 
not lump. 

Vegetable Stew — Use 1 lb. chopped meat, 2 
cupsful water, 1 cupful turnips, 2 cupsful car- 
rots, 1 onion, 1 cupful tomato juice, 1 cupful 
peas, % cupful celery, 2 cupsful diced potatoes, 
seasoning. Brown the meat and onion in beef 
suet or butter, add water and tomato juice, add 
turnips, carrots and celery diced, allow to boil for 
5 minutes, place in cooker for 4 hours, remove 
and add seasoning, peas and diced potatoes, boil 
for 5 minutes and place in cooker for 1 hour. 
Thicken if desired before serving. 

Fish 

Boiled White Fish — Clean and bone fish and 
sew in cheese cloth bag, leaving room for fish to 
swell. Place fish in kettle with back down, cover 
with boiling salted water (acidulated), allowing 
one tablespoonful of salt and vinegar or lemon 
juice to each quart of water. Boil for 5 minutes. 



MISCELLANEOUS 227 

Place in cooker for 1 hour. If fish weighs over 2 
pounds boil for 10 minutes. The skin may be 
easily peeled from a boiled fish. Serve with to- 
mato sauce. 

Cod, Haddock, Bass, Blue Fish, Halibut, Sal- 
mon, etc, — Can all be cooked as above. 

Boiled Eggs — Pour into the kettle one cupful 
of boiling water for each egg to be cooked. Lower 
eggs gradually into the water. Cover kettle and 
allow water to boil for half a minute. Place in 
kettle in cooker for 30 minutes. Pour cold water 
over eggs before peeling. 

Spaghetti and Tomato Sauce — Add one table- 
spoonful of salt to 2 quarts of boiling water, and 
hold one-third of a pound of spaghetti so you may 
place one end into the boiling water ; as it softens 
lower into the water. In this way spaghetti may 
be cooked without breaking. Boil for 5 minutes 
and place in cooker for 1^/2 hours. Drain off 
water in which spaghetti was cooked and pour 
cold water over it, to keep it from sticking to- 
gether. Add tomato sauce and bring to boiling 
point, place in cooker ^o bour before serving. 

Meats 

In cooking meat, be sure to allow it to boil on 
the stove until the center of the meat is heated to 
the boiling point. This usually takes a half hour 



228 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

or even longer, dependent upon local conditions. 
You will have to use your judgment. 

Beef Stew — Use 2 lbs. round steak, 1 onion, 1 
carrot, 3 cupsful water, 1 stick celery, 1 turnip, 
1 teaspoonful salt, sprinkle pepper. Place meat 
in kettle and cut into inch pieces ; add water and 
seasoning. Slice carrot, turnip and celery into 
1/2 inch cubes and add to mixture. Boil for 10 
minutes and place in cooker for 6 hours. Thicken 
with four tablespoonsful of flour and 1^ cup 
water well mixed. Serve on toast. 

Browned Beef Stew — Use 2 lbs. round steak, 

1 onion, 3 cupsful water, seasoning. Cut meat 
into small pieces. Slice onion and brown in some 
of the suet or 2 tablespoonsful of butter, add meat 
and cook until well browned. Add the 3 cupsful 
of water and seasoning, allow to boil slowly for 
10 minutes. Place kettle in cooker for 8 hours, 
thicken with 4 tablespoonsful of browned flour 
and 6 tablespoonsful of water made into a thin 
paste. 

Beef Pot Roast — Sprinkle roast with flour. 
Heat a little suet in frying pan and add a slice 
or two of onion. Place roast in frying pan and 
brown on all sides, being careful not to pierce 
fleshy part of roast. Place meat in kettle and add 

2 cupsful of water to frying pan, simmer a few 
minutes and pour water over roast. Add 1 tea- 



MISCELLANEOUS 229 

spoonful of salt and enough more boiling water 
to almost cover roast, allow to boil 30 minutes 
and place in copker for 6 to 8 hours, depending 
upon size of roast. The liquor may be thickened 
for gravy. 

Corned Beef — If beef is very salty soak for 
several hours in cold water. If not, wash in cold 
water and place in kettle, cover with cold water 
and boil for 30 minutes, place in cooker all day 
or over night. If meat is to be served cold, allow 
it to cool in the liquor. 

Corned Beef and Cabbage — Cook corned beef 
as for above recipe. Three hours before the cab- 
bage is to be served, remove outside leaves and 
cut into quarters. Place cabbage in kettle with 
meat and boil for 10 minutes. Place in cooker 2 
hours and a half, drain liquor and serve meat and 
cabbage. 

Boiled Ham — Boil for 30 to 45 minutes, de- 
pending on size of ham ; an 8-pound ham should 
boil 45 minutes. Place in cooker and allow to 
remain all night. If ham is to be served cold, 
allow it to cool in the liquor. A small onion may 
be added to the water in which it is cooked. 

Fricassee of Chicken — Cut chicken into small 
pieces. Heat 2 tablespoonsful of butter in frying- 
pan, add slice of onion ; roll chicken in flour and 
then brown in butter. Place chicken in kettle 



230 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

and pour 2 cupsf ul of water into frying pan ; boil 
a few minutes and pour water over chicken ; add 
salt and boil for 10 minutes. Place kettle in 
cooker 6 hours if chicken is young and 8 if it is a 
hen. Thicken the gravy with browned flour and 
serve on toast. Chopped parsley may be added 
before serving. 

Chicken CuiTy — Same as Fricassee of Chicken 
except % teaspoonful of curry powder is added 
to the thickening. 

Chicken Stew — Cut chicken into pieces; place 
chicken in kettle and cover with water; allow to 
boil slowly for 30 minutes; season with pepper 
and salt, and place in cooker for 6 hours. Remove 
from cooker and add thickening. Serve on toast 
or the stew may again be brought to the boiling 
point and dumplings added and the kettle re- 
placed in the cooker for 30 minutes. 

Boiled Dinner — Cook 4 pounds of corned beef 
as directed. Remove meat from liquor and add 
2 cupsful of sliced carrots ; boil for 5 minutes and 
place in cooker 2 hours. Remove kettle and add 
4 turnips sliced and cabbage cut into quarters. 
Boil 20 minutes and place in cooker for 2 hours. 
The meat may be placed in the kettle and the 
whole boiled until meat is reheated. Boiled beets 
may be served with this dish. 

Irish Steuo — Use 2 lbs. mutton, % cupful car- 



MISCELLANEOUS 231 

rots, 1 onion, 2 cupsful sliced potatoes. One-half 
cupful turnips cut into 1^ ^^^^ cubes, also onion 
sliced thin. Remove fat and skin from meat, boil 
slowly for 15 minutes and place in cooker for 4 
hours. Remove and bring to boiling point; add 
potatoes and seasoning. Boil for 5 minutes and 
place in cooker for 1 hour; add thickening and 
serve. 

Boiled Mutton — Brown meat in frying pan 
and place in kettle ; cover with boiling water, add 
a small onion cut in pieces. Boil for 30 minutes 
and place in cooker for 8 hours. If meat is to be 
served cold, add 1 teaspoonful of salt and allow 
meat to cool in liquor. 

Fricassee of Lamb — Cut 2 pounds of lean lamb 
into small cubes, dredge with flour and brown in 
a frying pan, using a little suet to keep it from 
burning. Place in kettle and add just water 
enough to cover. Boil for 10 minutes and place 
in cooker for 6 hours. Thicken with I/2 cupful 
of bro^Mied flour mixed with cold water, season 
to taste and serve on toast. 

Calves^ Tongue — Calves' tongues usually come 
fresh and require no soaking. Wash in cold wa- 
ter ; place in kettle and cover with boiling water. 
Add slice of onion and carrot cut into pieces. Boil 
15 minutes and place in cooker over night. Re- 
move skin and add salt and pepper to liquor in 



232 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

which tongues were cooked. Allow tongues to 
cool in this liquor. 

Boiled Tongue — If tongue is very salty, soak 
for 1 hour in cold water. Place tongue in kettle 
and cover with cold water; heat to boiling point 
and boil for 15 minutes; place in cooker all night. 
Skin while still warm and allow to cool in the 
liquor, if it is to be served cold. A slice of onion 
cooked with the tongue will improve the flavor a 
little and paprika may also be added. 

Veal Pot Roast — Melt 2 tablespoonsf ul of but- 
ter or suet in frying pan and brown the roast of 
veal by turning meat on all sides. Place roast in 
kettle and pour 2 cupsful of water into frying 
pan, boil for a minute and pour liquid over veal, 
add enough more boiling water to almost cover 
meat, add salt and pepper, boil 20 minutes to half 
hour. Place in cooker 6 to 8 hours. Liquor in 
which meat was cooked may be thickened for 
gravy or saved for soup. 

Curry of Veal— -Use 2 pounds veal, 2 table- 
spoonsful suet or butter, 1 onion, V2 teaspoonful 
curry powder, 1 teaspoonful salt, I/2 teaspoonful 
pepper, 4 tablespoonsful flour, 2 tablespoonsful 
water. Cut veal into small cubes and brown in 
frying pan with 2 tablespoonsful of suet or butter 
and an onion cut into slices. Add curry powder, 
salt and pepper, and boiling water to cover. Boil 



MISCELLANEOUS 233 

for 10 minutes and place in cooker for 5 hours. 
Thicken with flour and water made into a tliin 
paste. Serve on toast. 

Veal and Rice — Take 1 pound veal, 2 cupsful 
water, 2 tablespoonsful butter, small onion, 3 
cupsful boiled rice. Cut veal into small cubes 
and brown in frying pan with butter and onion, 
add 2 cupsful of boiling water and seasoning, 
cook for a few moments, then place mixture in 
kettle and boil slowly for 15 minutes, place in 
cooker 3 hours. Thicken with flour and water 
and serve over hot cooked rice. 

Vegetables 

Prepare same just as you would prepare them 
for cooking in the regular manner, or in other 
words, just according to the directions given in 
any good cook book. 

Bean Salad — Clean navy beans and soak in 
cold water over night, drain off water and add 
enough fresh water to cover the beans. Add a 
half pound of bacon for each quart of beans 
(measured before soaking), add salt and pepper 
to suit taste. Boil until beans begin to peel slight- 
ly when you blow on them. Place kettle in cooker 
for 8 to 10 hours. After taken from cooker, scat- 
ter shced onions on top and pour vinegar over the 
whole, 



231 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

WacV Beans — Wash beans and break into inch 
pieces, cover with cold water and allow to boil 10 
minutes, add 2 tablespoonsful of butter. Place 
in cooker 6 hours, season with salt and pepper or 
serve with cream sauce. 

Dried Lima Beans — Soak beans in cold water 
over night, drain off water in which beans were 
soaked. Cover beans with fresh water, add a 
small piece of salt pork or a piece of butter. Al- 
low beans to simmer for 15 minutes, place in 
cooker for 6 hours, season and serve. A pinch of 
soda added while beans are cooking will make 
them more tender. 

Lima Beans — Same as above except omit soak- 
ing over night. 

String Beans — Wash beans and pull off 
strings, break them into inch pieces. Cover with 
boiling water and add a small piece of salt pork, 
boil slowly for 10 minutes, place in cooker for 6 
hours, remove, season with salt, pepper and a lit- 
tle butter in case salt pork is not used. Add sliced 
onions. 

Asparagus — Wash asparagus and tie into 
small bunches. Stand these bunches up in a ket- 
tle of boiling water, allowing the tips to be above 
the water, boiling for 5 minutes, and place in 
cooker for 1 hour. Serve asparagus with salt, 
pepper and melted butter or with cream sauce. 



MISCELLANEOUS 235 

As23aragus may be cut into 1 inch pieces instead 
of leaving whole. 

Spinach — Wash and pick over greens care- 
fully, add 1 cupful boiling water for each quart 
of greens. Boil slowly for 10 minutes, place ket- 
tle in cooker for 2 hours. Drain off water, ad^ 
salt, pepper and butter; reheat and serve. Beet 
greens and dandelion greens can be cooked the 
same. 

Boiled Beets — Wash beets, leaving on root and 
about 14 i^^ch o^ leaves, to keep beets from losing 
color. Cover beets w4th boiling water and allow 
to boil 15 minutes. Place kettle in cooker from 
6 to 8 hours, depending upon the age of the beets. 
Remove from cooker and put beets into cold wa- 
ter for a minute. Skin and cut into small pieces. 
Season with salt, pepper and butter. 

Pickled Beets — Cook beets as for boiled beets, 
peel and cut beets into slices, place in glass jar, 
and cover with following mixture : Add 4 table- 
spoonsful sugar, 1 tablespoonful salt, 1^ table- 
spoonful pepper, 10 cloves, 1 stick cinnamon and 
10 pepper-corns to boiling water, 2 cupsful, and 
2 cupsful vinegar, and heat to almost boiling 
point. Pour over beets and allow to stand 24 
hours before serving. 

Carrots and Peas — Wash and scrape carrots, 
cut into slices, place in kettle and cover with boil- 



236 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

ing water, allow to boil 5 minutes, add salt and 
place in cooker 6 hours. When done drain, add 
1 can of peas and allow to simmer for 10 minutes, 
add salt, pepper and butter and serve at once. 
Cooked diced turnips may be added if wished. 

Boiled Cabbage — Remove outside leaves, cut 
into quarters and cut out tough center. Place in 
kettle and cover with boiling salted water, allow 
to boil for 10 minutes without cover. Cover and 
place in cooker for 2 hours. Season with butter, 
salt and pepper and little vinegar. 

Cauliflower — Cook as for cabbage but serve 
with cream sauce. 

Boiled Green Corn — Remove the husks and 
threads, place corn in kettle, cover with boiling 
water and boil for 3 minutes, place in cooker for 
45 minutes to 1 hour, depending upon the age of 
corn. Drain and sen^e with salt and pepper. 

Peas Dried — Clean peas, cover with water and 
allow to soak over night. Drain and cover with 
fresh water. Boil for 10 minutes and place in 
cooker for 6 hours. Season with salt, pepper and 
butter, and serve hot. 

Peas — Same as Dried Peas except omit soak- 
ing over night. 

Lentils — Soak 1 cupful of lentils in cold water 
over night. Drain and add fresh water to cover, 



MISCELLANEOUS 237 

add a slice of onion and boil for 10 minutes. Place 
in cooker for 8 hours. Drain and add 1 cup of 
well-seasoned white sauce. The water which was 
drained off may be saved for soup. 

Creamed Onions — Remove skins from onions 
and if large cut in half. Cover with salted water 
and boil for 5 minutes ; place in cooker for 3 hours 
if onions are young and small; leave 4 hours if 
onions are large or old. Serve with milk, butter, 
salt and pepper. 

Sjjanish Onions — Quarter the onions and cook 
as for Creamed Onions. 

Boiled Potatoes — Pare potatoes, cut into pieces, 
cover with boiling salted water and boil for 5 min- 
utes. Place in cooker for 1 hour to l^^ hours, 
depending on the size of pieces and amount in 
kettle, drain, mash, add salt, pepper, milk and 
butter. 

Parsnips — Wash and scrape parsnips, cut in 
slices about 1/4 ^^^^^ thick, cover with boiling salted 
water and allow to boil 5 minutes. Place in cooker 
3 hours. Drain, season with salt, pepper and but- 
ter, or roll in flour and brown in butter in frying 
pan. 

Creamed Potatoes — Wash and pare potatoes, 
cut into cubes, place in kettle and cover with boil- 
ing salted water. Boil 3 minutes and place in 



238 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

cooker 45 minutes. Drain and cover with white 
sauce. Large amounts of potatoes may be cooked 
in the cooker in this way without breaking. 

Potatoes for Salad — Select potatoes of uni- 
form size, wash and remove black places. Place 
potatoes in kettle and cover with boiling water, 
add 1 tablespoonful of salt for each quart of wa- 
ter. Boil 5 minutes if potatoes are small, 10 if 
large. Place in cooker 2 hours. Drain and allow 
to cool uncovered. Put 2 large slices of bacon 
into a pan and fry till crisp. Then cut into small 
pieces, add 1 cupful of vinegar and half a cupful 
of sliced onions. Pour over potatoes and mix. 

Boiled Sweet Potatoes — Cover with boiling 
water salted and allow to boil 5 minutes if pota- 
toes are small and 10 if potatoes are large. Place 
in cooker for 1 hour, drain and allow to dry. 

Brussels Sprouts — Soak in cold water I/2 hour. 
Remove wilted leaves and cover with boiling 
salted water, allow to boil 5 minutes and place 
in cooker 2 hours. Drain and serve with white 
sauce. 

Boiled Tomatoes — Wash tomatoes and pour 
boiling water over them, allowing them to remain 
in it about ^^2 minute or less if they are very ripe. 
Cover with cold water and peel. Cut into pieces 
and add salt, pepper, to taste, butter and a small 
amount of sugar, and ^ cupful bread crumbs 



MISCELLANEOUS 239 

may be added. Boil for o minutes, place in cooker 
and allow to remain 1 hour. 

Squash — Cut squash into pieces, remove seeds 
and pare. Cut into small pieces and add water 
to almost cover. Boil 10 minutes and place in 
cooker 4 hours, drain, mash and season with but- 
ter, salt and pepper. If the butter is browned 
slightly it will improve the flavor. 

Turnips, White — Wash and pare turnips, cut 
into slices and cover with boiling water. Cook for 
10 minutes and place in cooker for 6 hours. Drain 
and mash, season with salt, pepper and butter and 
serve hot. Turnips may be cut into dice instead 
of slices and served with white sauce. 

Turnips, Yellow — Prepare yellow turnips or 
rutabagas, as they are sometimes called, in the 
same manner as white turnips, but leave in the 
cooker from 1 to 2 hours longer, as they require 
more cooking. 

Pumpkin for Pies — Cut pumpkin into pieces, 
pare and remove seeds. Place pumpkin in kettle 
and add just enough water to cook without burn- 
ing. Boil until pumpkin is heated through. Place 
in cooker over night. Drain and rub through 
sieve. 

Tomato Sauce — Use 2 tablespoonsful butter, 2 
tablespoonsful flour, 1 teaspoonful salt, sprinkle 
cayenne pepper, l^/^ cupsful tomato juice. Melt 



240 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

butter until it bubbles, add flour and seasoning 
and stir until smooth, add tomato juice, stirring 
constantly until it thickens. 

Dried Fruits — For cooking any kind of dried 
fruit, such as apples, pears, peaches, figs, prunes, 
apricots, nectarines, etc., use the following recipe: 
Wash in cold water, soak over night in fresh wa- 
ter and cook in water in which they were soaked. 
Boil slowly for 10 minutes, adding sugar, lemon 
to taste. Place in cooker 5 hours. 

Fruits 

A Nice Way to Prepare Apples — Make a nice 
syrup of sugar and water with some small pieces 
of ginger root or orange peel added. When this 
syrup has boiled 3 minutes, drop into it some 
quartered apples and put into cooker for 3 hours. 
Cream when eating improves them. 

Apple Sauce — Pare and core 6 medium sized 
tart apples, cut into slices and cover with boiling- 
water. Boil 5 minutes and place in cooker for 1 
hour. Remove and rub apples through sieve, add 
cup of sugar for each cup of apple and a little 
nutmeg or lemon juice. Serve cold. 

Quinces and Apples — Pare and core quinces, 
cut into quarters, add water to cover and allow 
to boil slowlv for 10 minutes. Place in cooker 
for 4 hours. Remove from cooker and add equal 



MISCELLANEOUS 241 

amounts of apples, which have been pared, cored 
and quartered, add more water if necessary and 
boil for 5 minutes. Place in cooker for 2 hours, 
add sugar to taste and boil until sugar forms a 
syrup. Serve cold. 

Sweet apples are usually best and lemon rind 
may be added with apples. 

Cranberry Sauce — Wash berries and almost 
cover with boiling water, boil 5 minutes and add 
a half cup of sugar for each cup of berries. Boil 
until sugar forms a syrup. Place in cooker for 
2 hours. 

Pineapple — Remove the eyes and peel, cut into 
sheas and remove core. Place in kettle and cover 
with boiling water, allow to boil for 10 minutes 
and place in cooker for 6 hours. Remove from 
cooker and drain off water in which fruit was 
cooked. Add a cup of sugar to each cup of juice, 
boil until sugar dissolves, pour over pineapple 
and cook slowly for 10 minutes. Pineapple may 
be canned or cooked and served as sauce. 

Desserts 

Irish Moss — Soak a scant cup of Irish moss in 
soda water till it swells, then squeeze until free 
from water. Put into a bucket containing 3 
quarts of milk. Set this bucket containing the 
above into the fireless cooker kettle containing 



242 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

about 3 quarts of boiling water and let it remain 
in the cooker 4 hours. Strain and sweeten and 
flavor. Serve cold. 

Suet Pudding — Use I/2 <^^^P finely chopped 
suet, 1 cup milk, 1 cup molasses, 3 cups flour, 2 
teaspoonsful salt, 1 teaspoonful soda, 1/^ tea- 
spoonful cloves, 1/^ teaspoonful allspice, 1 tea- 
spoonful cinnamon, I/2 cup raisins. Mix and sift 
flour, salt, soda and spices. Add milk and mo- 
lasses to suet; combine the two mixtures. Add. 
raisins which have been stoned and chopped and 
mixed with 2 tablespoonsful of flour; mix well. 
Place in butter moulds and put into kettle, allow- 
ing boiling water to almost come to the top of 
cans. Place cover on kettle and boil 15 minutes. 
Place in cooker 4 hours. 

Fig Pudding — Take 1 cup sugar, % cup but- 
ter, % cup milk, 2I/3 cups flour, 4 level teaspoons- 
ful baking powder, whites of 4 eggs, 14 ^^P fi^^ 
chopped fine. Cream butter, add sugar gradual- 
ly, sift baking powder with flour, and add milk 
and flour alternately ; add figs and fold in whites 
of eggs. Pour mixture into buttered moulds; 
place mould in kettle and add boiling water until 
it almost comes to top of moulds. Boil 15 min- 
utes and place in cooker 2 hours. Serve with 
hard sauce. 

Tapioca Custard Pudding — Take 1 cup pearl 



MISCELLANEOUS 243 

or minute tapioca, 1 cup water, 3 cups milk, 3 
eggs, % cup sugar, 1 teaspoonful salt, 1 table- 
spoonful butter. Soak pearl tapioca in cold wa- 
ter 1 hour. Drain and add water. Heat to boil- 
ing point, add milk, sugar and salt, cook slowly 
for 5 minutes, be careful not to let it burn. Place 
in cooker for 2 hours. Add the well beaten eggs 
and butter. Pour the mixture into a well but- 
tered pan and bake until brown. The minute 
tapioca needs no soaking. 

Cherry Pudding — Use same recipe as for Fig 
Pudding, adding 1 cup of fresh cherries. Blue- 
berries, raspberries or other fruits may be used. 
If fruits are very juicy, add about 2 tablespoons- 
ful more of flour. Cooked cherries may be used, 
if drained and the juice saved for sauce. 

Tapioca and Apples — Take I/2 cup pearl tapi- 
oca, 4 cups boiling water, 1 teaspoonful salt, % 
cup sugar, 6 sour apples. Soak tapioca in cold 
water 2 hours. Drain and add 4 cups of boiling 
water. Boil 5 minutes, add sugar and salt when 
sugar is dissolved, place in cooker for 2 hours. 
Pare and core apples, cut into pieces or leave 
whole, place apples in buttered dish and cover 
with cooked tapioca, bake until apples are soft. 
Serve with cream and sugar. 

Peach Tapioca — Make same as Apple Tapioca, 
using instead fresh or canned peaches, or the 



244 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

dried cooked peaches, which are delicious. The 
dried cooked apples may also be used for apple 
tapioca. 

For the Sick Room 

Arrowroot Gruel — Use 2 tablespoonsful ar- 
rowroot, 1 quart boiling water, 1 teaspoonful salt, 
1 teaspoonful sugar. Mix arrowroot with just 
enough cold water to form a thin paste, add part 
of boiling water, mix well and add remaining hot 
water. Boil for 5 minutes and place in cooker 1 
hour. Cool, add a few drops of vanilla and a lit- 
tle cream if desired, or gruel may be served hot. 
Remember, it takes longer to cook cereals in a 
fireless cooker than in the customary manner, 
hence do not use as much cereal but more water. 

Oat Meal — Use 1 cup oat meal, 3 cups water, 

1 teaspoonful salt. Stir well into boiling salted 
water, boil 8 minutes, place in cooker over night. 

Boiled Rice — Take 1 cup rice, 2 teaspoonsful 
salt, 5 cups water. Wash rice, then stir it into 
boiling salted water and allow to boil 8 minutes. 
Place kettle in cooker and allow to remain 3 
hours. It may be left over night without over- 
cooking. 

Balston's Breakfast Food — Take 6 cups water, 

2 teaspoonsful salt, 1 cup cereal. Allow water 
to boil, add salt and slowly stir in breakfast food. 



MISCELLANEOUS 245 

being careful not to allow it to lump. Boil slowly 
for 8 minutes and place in cooker all night. 

Barley Mush — Use 1 cup barley meal, 5 cups 
water, 2 teaspoonsful salt. Stir meal slowly into 
boiling salted water, being careful not to let it 
lump. Cook for 10 minutes and place in cooker 
for 8 hours or more. 

Corn Meal Mush — Take 1 cup corn meal, 1 
teaspoonful salt, 4 to 514 cups water. Slowly 
stir the meal into boiling salted water, being care- 
ful not to lump. Allow to boil slowly for 10 min- 
utes, place in cooker and allow to remain 8 to 10 
hours or all night. 

If you wish to fry mush use only 4 cups of wa- 
ter. If the mush is to be a breakfast food as much 
as 5^/2 cups may be used. . 

Bice and Figs — Cook rice as for Boiled Rice, 
adding just before placing into cooker a cup of 
figs which have been cut into small pieces. 

Pettijohris Breakfast Food — Use 1 cup cereal, 
3 cups water, 1^ teaspoonsful salt. Stir cereal 
into salted boiling water, allow to boil for 8 min- 
utes, and place in cooker over night. 

Cracked Wheat — Take 1 cup of cracked wheat, 
1 teaspoonful salt, 4 cups water. Soak cracked 
wheat in 2 cups of water for 2 hours. Heat re- 
maining water to boiling point, add salt and 
cracked wheat and water in which it has been 



246 THE WOMAN'S MANUAL 

soaking. Allow to boil for 10 minutes, place in 
cooker over night. 

The flavor will be greatly improved if the 
wheat is slightly browned in the oven before 
soaking. 

Vitos — Use 1 cup cereal, 6I/2 cups water, 2 tea- 
spoonsful salt. Salt water and when it boils rap- 
idly add the meal slowly, stirring constantly to 
prevent lumping. Boil slowly 5 minutes and 
place in cooker all night. 

Farina — Use same amounts as for Vitos. 

Cream of Wheat — Take 1 cup cereal, 6^ cups 
water, 2 teaspoonsful salt. Method the same as 
for Vitos. 

Oatmeal Gruel — Use 1 cup oatmeal, 6 cups 
water, 2 teaspoonsful salt, 3 cups milk. Soak 
oatmeal over night in 6 cups of salted water. Boil 
slowly for 5 minutes and place in cooker 6 hours. 
Strain through cheese cloth bag and dilute with 
milk. Serve hot. 

Barley Water — Clean a fourth of a cup of bar- 
ley and add a quart of water, and soak over night. 
Boil gently for 5 minutes in same water in which 
it was soaked. Place in cooker 4 hours. Strain, 
season with salt, sugar and lemon juice. It may 
be served either hot or cold. 

Beef Tea — Take 1 pound round steak, 2 cups 
water, ^/^ t^aspoonf ul salt. Remove the skin and 



MISCELLANEOUS 247 

fat, put meat through meat chopper and cover 
with cold water. Add salt and heat slowly to 
just below the boiling point. Place in cooker for 
1 hour, strain and serve hot. 



